Gustavo de Arístegui, the external affairs expert examples the ways to strengthen bilateral ties
The Make in India initiative by the government of India is an additional opportunity for the countries to strengthen their economic ties with India. Gustavo de Arístegui also find it as an opportunity to put an extra bond in the relationship by not just transferring technology, but developing things together.
The Spanish investment in India is over $1.3 billion and India’s total investment is about 605 million euros. This key relationship needs a further bond and make in India is the best opportunity for Spain to capitalize, feels Gustavo de Arístegui. Spanish companies are pitching in sectors like infrastructure, transport and energy, areas in which Spain has proven powers. Seeking to give a strategic cast to bilateral ties, the two countries have inked defense pact that entails, among other things, exchanging defense-related experience, information, encouraging visits of personnel, collaboration in the defense industry and other similar areas of cooperation.
Gustavo de Arístegui is excited and reckons that it is not only about transferring technology and building together in India, it is about developing technology together. He has a very clear Idea about this and want this to be a fulfilling partnership, based on trust, mutual respect and mutual beneficial conditions. Many Spanish firms have shown an interest in selling high-tech weaponry to India. Spanish defense companies such as Indra are already engaged with the Indian armed forces in the areas of radar and communication.
The C-295, which is 100% Spanish, that has got approval by the government for the Avro’s replacement in the Indian Air Force. This is the first Make in India project. The Indian authorities have noted that Spain is a world player in a lot of aspects that have not been taken into account before. Spain is the sixth largest industrial defense country in the world.
Gustavo de Arístegui keen interest in empowering the bilateral ties between the countries made him investigate to many areas seeking a new idea. His investigation has made happen many new ways of strengthening the ties with India which includes teaching of Spanish in India, cooperation in smarty city project of India etc. The investigation made by Gustavo in each policy help him crack a new way to power the bilateral cooperation. And the development of new technologies together is the latest fruit of this investigation.
Spain is definitely willing to share good practices and partner with India on the smart cities journey it has recently embarked upon. I am enthusiastically and personally involved in promoting the twinning of the two capital cities, Madrid and Delhi. There is also an R&D and co-creation dimension in our bilateral co-operation, as Spain and India jointly manage several industry-driven R&D initiatives in promoting and financing joint projects in fields like ICT, cleantech and Smart Cities.
In today’s fast-paced operational scenario, a supply ship can be a much-sophisticated combat support ship, and due to Gustavo’s vission, Spain would be happy to be involved from the design to the building stage. He believes that Navantia’s S-80 Submarine, which is in the final stages of construction for the Spanish Navy, could be a good reference for the P-75I. Navantia forms part of the Scorpene India consortium with DCNS of France. It is providing design and transfer of technology to Mazagon Dock Limited to build six Scorpene submarines for the Indian Navy under Project-75.
The Indian Navy was planning to build tankers to look after big ships like the aircraft carriers and some LPDs like INS Jalashwa, as also six more diesel-electric submarines with AIP. The Spanish submarines, designated S-80, are using an innovative AIP system to charge fuel cells, similar to those in the US space shuttle programme.
Navantia has an MoU with Larsen and Toubro (L&T), which is already working with the Indian Navy in heavy engineering and has built parts of the indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant and the fast attack craft (FAC) built by Goa Shipyard. Navantia and L&T are working jointly on building four LPDs like INS Jalashwa for amphibious military operations and disaster relief for the Indian Navy.
The Spanish company Indra has a significant presence in India, where its radars control most of the air space. The company holds almost 90% of market. It is the biggest player in air traffic controls systems. Indra is the biggest in that sector in the world; even in Germany, they have an overwhelming share and in Europe, it is 60 %; and in the US, 35%. Spain has some of the most advanced systems of air traffic control, some of the most advanced civilian radars and systems.
The P-75I is a very attractive programmed for us. It involves the design and construction of six AIP submarines under a quite interesting industrial arrangement with a compromise between ‘Buy’ and ‘Make India’. The first two submarines are meant to be built at the designer’s facilities abroad and the remaining four submarines will be built between Mazagon Dock and Hindustan Shipyard. The P-75I has been on the table for quite some time already and Navantia has responded to IN’s request for information (RFI). We are now waiting for the request for proposal (RFP) to be issued before the end of this fiscal year.
Additionally, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) commissioned Indra to modernize Delhi’s air control center, one of the country’s most important centers and from which one of the greatest air traffic areas is managed, including operations at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.
