By Invitation | President, Rolls-Royce, India and South Asia, Kishore Jayaraman

‘Rolls-Royce is a Long-Term Partner of Both the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard With a Substantial Installed Base In-Country’

Kishore JayaramanHow has Rolls-Royce supported the growth of Indian Air Force (IAF) in their journey of over 85 years?

Rolls-Royce has been associated with the IAF since the beginning. We powered the first flight of the IAF in 1932. Since then, we have further built and strengthened our relationship to turn it into one that will stretch far into the future.

Today, more than 750 Rolls-Royce engines of 10 engine types are powering aircraft of the Indian military. Our engines power a wide variety of aircraft in the inventory of the IAF – from combat and strike aircraft (the Jaguar, powered by the Adour Mk811) to trainers (Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer, powered by Adour Mk871) to strategic airlift aircraft (C-130J Hercules, powered by AE 2100) and even VVIP and Surveillance aircraft (ERJ145, powered by AE 3007).

In addition to this, our field service representatives (FSRs) work in close support with the IAF personnel to maximise the availability of engines on wings and provide on-ground technical advice directly to our customers, thereby drastically reducing maintenance and overhaul times. Today, Rolls-Royce engines with class-leading fuel efficiency and reliability enable military aircraft to stay on mission for longer. Our MissionCare® programmes have been proven to maximise the number of engines available to fly while also significantly reducing the cost of support.

 

How has Rolls-Royce’s footprint grown in the India region?

Our relationship with India goes back more than 85 years. Today, we’re building our capabilities across engineering, manufacturing, digital and supply chain, all of which lead to an enrichment of India’s industrial ecosystem. We are also playing an important role in furthering the skill development and building a strong base of local talent pool. Our belief in India’s skilled talent led to the set-up of Engineering Centres in Bengaluru and Pune. Both these engineering centres enable us to embrace opportunities to co-design, co-develop and co-manufacture with right local strategic partners.




In 2017, we set up a digital hub – R2 Data Labs, in Bengaluru, in partnership with TCS, to leverage the digital workforce available in the country. This will enable us to use data to innovate within all of our businesses and collaborate more effectively with partners and customers. We are also growing our supply chain capabilities in the region to get into more complex commodities. We expanded our partnership with Godrej & Boyce for manufacturing products like Unison Rings, Complex Fabrication and external brackets commodities. Through our partnership with Hindustan Aeronautics (IAMPL), we already manufacture a wide range of components for our aero engines flying around the world. Our Power Systems business recently announced a JV with Force Motors to manufacture Series 1600 engines at a dedicated state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Chakan near Pune.

As a leading industrial technology company, we are pioneering the power that matters to our customers. With India focussed on capacity building in defence sector, we remain committed to supporting India’s self-reliance vision with our wide portfolio of efficient, reliable and cleaner products and solutions.

 

How is Rolls-Royce positioned to support the growth of Indian defence industry?

For us, India continues to be one of the most important strategic markets globally and we are committed to build on our distinguished legacy and long-standing partnership to help support India’s future ambitions.

As the IAF undergoes its modernisation programmes, Rolls-Royce is committed to providing it with the best value, and highest quality products possible. We will continue to support today’s fleets and strive to further increase their capability. There are also future opportunities that can help to realise the country’s self-reliance vision and efforts to indigenisation. We are committed to working more closely with our stakeholders to enable them benefit from our innovative products, solutions and technologies.

 

How would you define your relationship with the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard?

Rolls-Royce is a long-term partner of both the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard with a substantial installed base in-country. The Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard operate over 95 vessels with our mission equipment on board. The navy has more than 30 ships utilising Rolls-Royce motion control equipment and many of our other products are also represented in the navy and Coast Guard fleet including propellers, waterjets, RAS/FAS equipment and steering gear.

Our Power Systems division is a world-leader in large reciprocating engines, propulsion and distributed energy systems. The product portfolio includes MTU brand high-speed engines and propulsion systems for ships, for heavy land, rail and defence vehicles, and for the oil and gas industry. With such a wide product portfolio, the Power Systems division offers immense synergies for the growing Indian naval market. MTU is a world-leading provider of high and medium speed diesel engines. Within the shipping sector the company has established a long and successful partnership with some tens of thousands of engines in operation around the globe and on all seas.

Presently, MTU engines propel and power many Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy ships. MTU’s own service teams are present at several locations along the Indian coastline and together with our service partner Yeoman Marine Private Limited, we are geared up to support our customer. Our ‘Propulsion System Integration’ (PSI) capability will further help in offering of complete drive-line integrated system solutions to naval customers across the world.

 

How do you align to the ‘Make in India’ initiative?

With focus on modernisation of Indian armed forces, we remain committed to realising the country’s vision of indigenisation and self-reliance. Our engineering centre in Pune delivers excellent engineering solutions to the Marine and Power Systems business while our Global Purchasing Office develops vendors and source key engine components from India. We also have a Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Workshop with Engine Test facility, a Training facility and also a Parts Distribution Centre in Pune.

We are constantly expanding our service centre and support infrastructure with special tooling and trained manpower to overhaul all engine types. Our partnership with Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) assembles MTU Series 4000 engines for naval vessels at Diesel Engine Plant in Ranchi. We recently announced a JV with Force Motors to manufacture Series 1600 engines suitable for power generation and rail underfloor applications at a dedicated state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Chakan near Pune. We look forward to continued commitment towards India and work more closely with our stakeholders.

 

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