Indian Rotorcraft had a ground breaking ceremony recently at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, marking the start of construction of a new helicopter production facility. The ceremony was conducted in the presence of Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons; Bruno Spagnolini, CEO, AgustaWestland and other dignitaries.

Indian Rotorcraft is a joint venture company formed by Tata Sons and AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, that will assemble, customise and flight test new helicopters for the worldwide market. The joint venture will initially start to produce the 8-seat AW119Ke light helicopter, with production commencing from mid-2013.

Ratan Tata said at the ceremony “The project is integral to our plans in the aerospace sector and we look forward to an enduring and successful partnership with AgustaWestland for fostering the growth of the Indian aerospace sector.”

Bruno Spagnolini added: “We are very pleased through our joint venture with Tata Sons to be playing an important role in the development of the Indian aerospace industry. Not only will this new facility be able to build helicopters for the Indian market but importantly it will supply helicopters to AgustaWestland customers around the world.”