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Munich. The Eurofighter Typhoon is capable of electronic warfare,
and this capability can be very effective in air to air and air to ground missions. According
to CEO Bernhard Gerwert of EADS Military Air System, which covers the Eurofighter,
the electronic warfare equipment is installed in the wintips, and that means that
the aircraft's external stores capacity is not sacrificed. The highly agiletwin-engine
Eurofighter can carry a mix of six short -range and Beyond the Visual Range (BVR)
air to air missile plus an additional air to surface weaons such as Paveway II
or GBU-10/16, an internal 27 mm cannon, or external fuel tanks, laser target designator
pod or other stores on seven further hard points. Eurofighter is in process
of developing its ESA radar to meet the Indian Airforce's current requiremet in
recent Request for Proposals (RfP) for 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MRCAs),
he said adding that the four-nation consortium behind the aircarft wil meet all
the specifications asked for by India. "Four nations, four air forces
and four leading European European aerospace companies EADS, EADS Casa, BAE Systems
and ALenia FInmeccanica have joined forces to fully support all military, technological
and industrial aspects of the Eurofightercampaign in Indi, Mr. Gerwert said. These
companies come from Germany, Spain, UK and Italy, whose governments have also
good relations with India. In fact, during Berlin Air Show in May, German
Chancelr Angela Merkel went out of the way to assure the visiting Indian Defence
Minister A K Antony that Germany would work towards easing any restrictions on
export of military technology to India. Mr Antony had pointed out that India
would not buy any major system unless it came with Transfer of Technology (ToT).
“Those days of only buying and buying are simply gone,” he had stated. In
the case of Eurofighter, Mr Gerwert pointed out, “We have already said that
we want India to be the .fth partner in the production of the aircraft” and
that “this would involve an unprecedented level of cooperation and transfer
of technology between India and the four European countries.” A comprehensive
and fully compliant Offset offer has already been submitted to the Indian Authorities
by EADS, acting on behalf of the entire Eurofighter Typhoon community.  “Our
document provides the Indian Authorities with a full-.edged response to the Eurofighter
Offset requirements and spells out inherent and unrivalled bene.ts for India,”
Mr Gerwert said.
“We are now looking forward to further detailing our
offer with the Indian governmental bodies as well as the Indian industry representatives
and are prepared for all subsequent discussions.” “Earlier this
year we invited India to become a member of the successful Eurofighter family.
Today I want to repeat this message: India is our partner of choice and we are
interested in long-lasting and mutually bene.cial political, industrial and military
relations, which are based on our dedication for equal, fair and true partnership.” Pointing
out that the European industry “fully understands the importance of industrial
co-operation associated with defence acquisition programmes,” Mr Gerwert
said that “the Eurofighter family was the world’s largest industrial
defence conglomerate with approximatively 400 leading companies associated with
the programme, and had the power and the willingness to completely support the
Indian defence sector over the decades to come.” That could decisively
contribute to the growth of the Indian defence industry. The EADS vision
for the MRCA programme is to solidly and pragmatically bring the capabilities,
skills and technologies to the Indian industry, from Defence Public Sector Undertakings
and private large corporations to small and medium industries and enterprises.
EADS and their Eurofighter partners have already signed more than 20 MoUs with
key Indian defence companies, Mr Gerwert said. | 
