BANGALORE: Alpha Design Technologies Private Limited, a Bangalore-based defence electronics company specialising in night vision goggles, flight simulators, communication equipment, radars and C4I Systems, has entered into a joint venture (JV) with the French conglomerate Sofema Groupe.

With a total equity of Rs 15 crore, and with Alpha and Sofema contributing 74 and 26 per cent respectively, the new venture, called Alpha Sofema Engineering and Services, is being seen as a win-win enterprise for both partners. For Sofema, the new venture is a vehicle through which it can offer the obligatory 30 per cent `off-sets' (work) to an Indian company in which it has a substantial stake; while for Alpha it will mean acquiring new technologies and gaining from the production experience of the French.

Also, the enhanced indigenous content in the new venture's portfolio will make products supplied to India's defence forces more cost-effective and competitive.

Disclosing the details of the joint venture to The Hindu, Alpha's Chairman and Managing Director, Col. (retd.) H. S. Shankar, said it would be dedicated to the support of the indigenously built Dhruv helicopter as well as old warhorses like the Cheetah and Chetak helicopters by warehousing spares; and also to Defence projects as a turnkey contractor. "By warehousing spares, like for the engines (TM 333-2B) that fly the Dhruv, and other key components, we will become `just in time' or `as and when required' supplier of spares that are needed by both Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and the Indian Air Force (IAF). The supply of spares on an inventory or need basis will help HAL and the IAF avoid stocking huge inventories, and more crucially buying and stocking waste inventory."

According to Col. Shankar, Alpha Sofema Engineering and Services besides inventory management will also be involved in fabrication, testing, maintenance and assembling of helicopter components up to the subassembly stage.

For the Sofema Groupe, the venture will mean warehousing at a much more competitive cost. According to Sofema's Regional Manager, South Asia, Anne-Sophie Barbeau, the new company will help the Sofema Groupe "move from a company represented in India to a full Indian company offering global solutions to its customers."

Ms. Barbeau also disclosed that the new venture would, in tandem with one of Sofema's subsidiary companies, Ulmer Aeronautique, offer the Indian defence forces mobile air traffic control towers, similar to the ones that were used at Port Blair during rescue operations after the 2005 tsunami.

Alpha Sofema Engineering and Services is also collaborating with another Sofema group company, CS Communication and Systems, to offer the latter's services in the modernisation of IAF airfields by installing latest lighting systems and other air traffic management aids.

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