ASSIDIAN opens new Engineering Centre in Bengaluru (India)

• First defence oriented engineering centre owned by a foreign company in India.
• Local footprint increases cooperation with Indian defence and aerospace companies.

Cassidian, the defence and security division of EADS, has opened a new Engineering Centre in Bengaluru, India. This is the first defence oriented engineering centre operated by a foreign company in India and therefore a landmark achievement towards Cassidian's strategic goal to establish a long-term partnership with India. During the Inauguration Ceremony, Dr. Stefan Zoller, CEO of Cassidian, stressed the special importance of the centre: "The Engineering Centre in Bengaluru is a perfect example of our commitment to increase our industrial footprint in this rapidly growing country and to create a wide range of opportunities for industrial cooperation."

The new centre is staffed almost entirely with highly qualified Indian engineers who have undergone extensive training in Europe. It is planned to increase the current number of 60 employees to more than 200 by the end of 2012. The major objective of the Engineering Centre is to leverage the vast pool of skilled engineers available in India to develop products fulfilling the specific requirements of the Indian customers and to provide consultancy and other services to the aerospace and defence companies in India. This will be accomplished by capitalizing on the leading-edge technologies, systems and products of Cassidian.

By integrating the new centre within Cassidian's global Engineering Organization, it will be enabled to participate in Indian as well as global programmes. The Engineering Centre will be at the forefront of Engineering and System Development, developing its core competencies in the areas of Radar Systems, Protection Systems, Avionic Systems, Engineering IT & 3D Visual Simulation, Aerostructure and Aerospace Modelling & Simulation. Bengaluru has long been known as the aerospace and defence hub of India. By establishing its Engineering Centre there, Cassidian is confident that the proximity to customers and users will facilitate a mutually beneficial relationship on both sides and thus strengthen Cassidian's future activities in India.

PR