Led by Chairman, Dick Olver and Chief Executive Officer, Ian King, Board Members of BAE Systems paid a rare visit together outside the UK/US to HAL’s facilities in Bengaluru recently. They interacted with HAL Chairman, Dr R.K. Tyagi and top officials and discussed about various business areas of mutual interest.

Olver insisted that the deep routed business relationship with HAL should go beyond Hawk to make the future even better than past. India being the second largest market for Hawk after UK, he said both the partners could think of working on new projects in 17 countries where BAE has its presence.

Dr Tyagi said HAL would be keen to carry forward this relationship. A new business model such as Performance Based Logistics (PBL) could be an area of cooperation with HAL learning from BAE experiences. HAL and BAE Systems have been together since the 1940s when Tiger Moths were overhauled and the relationship strengthened through production of Jaguars in the 1980s and the Hawk fleet in the last 20 years, he added.

Currently HAL produces Hawk Mk. 132 under licence from BAE Systems, UK and the first aircraft was handed over to the Indian Air Force in August 2008. The Hawk Mk 132 is an advanced jet trainer with tandem duel seats meant to provide advanced flying and weapons training.