Samtel Display Systems (SDS), India's leading private sector aerospace company, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Saab to jointly develop, manufacture and market RIGS Head-Up Displays (RIGS HUD) in India. The announcement was made by Mr. Micael Johansson, Senior Vice President and Head of Saab's business area Electronic Defence Systems, and Mr. Puneet Kaura, Executive Director, SDS today at the 6th Defexpo 2010 being held at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

For commercial and military market

SDS is already in advanced stages of developing Head Up Displays for fighter aircraft. Subsequent to this MoU, SDS will now also be involved in the development of RIGS HUD together with Saab. SDS and Saab will jointly market RIGS in India to potential Indian customers for the Indian 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. Initially, the parts manufactured by SDS will be for the Indian market, with the potential of serving international market in the long run. SDS may also, at a later stage, 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 Head-Up Displays segment. But we are hopeful that through our focus on quality along with cost effectiveness this collaboration will extend to other international markets as well over the next few years," says Mr. Puneet Kaura, Executive Director, SDS, about the collaboration.

This is the second MoU to be signed between Saab and SDS. The first MoU identifies SDS as an offset partner for Saab for the MMRCA contract in which Saab's fighter aircraft Gripen is one of the contenders.

"India is a very important market for us and is an important cornerstone of our overall global strategy. We are very confident about SDS' technological and manufacturing capabilities and are happy to partner with them. This collaboration marks our next step towards consolidating our position in the Indian aerospace and defense market," said Mr Micael Johansson.