Samtel Display Systems (SDS), India’s leading private sector aerospace company, and the Swedish defence major Saab on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop, manufacture and market RIGS head-up display (RIGS HUD) in India. RIGS is a new generation advanced light-weight head up display (HUD) designed by Saab to provide helicopters with a cost-effective display solution.
The announcement was made at the sixth edition of the DefExpo 2010 by SDS executive director Puneet Kaura and Saab senior vice-president & head (business area electronic defence systems) Micael Johansson. Talking to FE, Kaura said, ?The company is already in advanced stages of developing HUD for fighter aircraft. Subsequent to this MoU, the company will now also be involved in the development of RIGS HUD with Saab.? Both the companies will jointly market RIGS in India to potential Indian customers for the commercial and military airborne market. ?SDS will be involved in the development of RIGS electronics and software and will also develop and manufacture parts of the RIGS HUD,? Kaura pointed out.
According to him, initially, the parts manufactured by SDS will be for the Indian market, with the potential of serving international market in the long run. At a later stage, the company is expected to leverage its relationship with HAL for the joint marketing activities of RIGS. ?Our current goal with reference to this MoU is to help Saab serve the Indian market in the HUD segment. With the focus on quality along with cost effectiveness this collaboration is expected to extend to other international markets as well over the next few years,? Kaura said.