Amphibian Aerospace is based out of Darwin, Australia. The 28-seater Amphibious Aircraft is capable of landing and taking off from land, water, and snow

CHENNAI: Hawking Defence Services, a Chennai-based Def-Tech company operating in the field of defence and aerospace signed a procurement cum partnership agreement with Australia-based Amphibian Aerospace Industries, manufacturers of "Albatross" amphibious aircraft.

Amphibian Aerospace is based out of Darwin, Australia. The 28-seater Amphibious Aircraft is capable of landing and taking off from land, water, and snow. The agreement includes the confirmation of procurement of a single aircraft by Hawking Defence Services by Hawking Defence Services. In turn, Hawking would be depositing an agreed sum for the said aircraft.

“We have plans to establish a unit in Tamil Nadu to manufacture aircraft components and MRO services for the Amphibious Aircraft. We are looking at an investment of approximately Rs 1,000 crore in the next 5 five years. Our aviation arm is expected to create around 850 direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs too,” said Vijayanarayanan Rapalli, chairman, Hawking Defence.

“Hawking Defence are our strategic partners in India. We have identified Albatross, one of our best-selling aircraft to be introduced in India. This aircraft will be a game changer for India as similar to Australia, India has a vast coastal belt. Our amphibious aircraft can be used in any kind of terrain and weather and will add great value to India’s Civilian and Defence sectors,” said Khoa Hoang- chairman, Amphibian Aerospace Industries.

“We also find TN has many advantages to offer. Apart from its coastal line that is the second largest in the world, the renewed aerospace and defence policy announced by the government recently is a big plus for us. Besides approximately 38,000 industries, the state also offers a full ecosystem including highly skilled manpower readily available which has led us to choose TN as our base,” said Rajeev Koundinya, CEO, Hawking Defence added.