Mr. Itzhak Nissan, President and CEO Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd (IAI) and Mr. Ratan N. Tata, Chairman Tata Sons today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a Joint Venture Company in India. The new Company will be set up by Tata Advanced Systems and IAI, and will develop, manufacture and support a wide range of defense and aerospace products, including Missiles, UAVs, Radars, Electronic Warfare (EW) systems and Home Land Security (HLS) systems.

The new JV Company will also perform offset work for IAI and other defense and aerospace programs in India, and it will establish local indigenous capabilities to best support IAI's Indian customers.

Tata Advanced Systems is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Industries focused on providing integrated solutions for Defence and Aerospace.

Mr. Itzhak Nissan said after the signing of the MoU: "The new IAI-TATA JV reflects our commitment to deepen our relations with the Indian industry. TATA is one of the most trusted business groups in India, and is well-known around the world for its excellence and ingenuity. Together, we will be able to offer a wide range of defense products and to boost the capabilities of the local Indian defense industries."

Mr. Ratan N. Tata said: "We believe the coming together of the Tata and IAI will positively impact the growth of the defence industry in India and complement the efforts of our Defence Labs, Ordnance Factory Board and Defence Public Sector Undertakings."

Israel Aerospace Industries, Ltd. (IAI), formerly known as Israel Aircraft Industries is the largest aerospace and defense industry in Israel. IAI is Israel's largest industrial exporter and a globally recognized leader for the defense and commercial markets. IAI provides unique system-of-systems solutions for a broad spectrum of needs in space, air, land, sea and homeland defense, including: unmanned air vehicles (UAV), radars, mission aircraft, AEW, EW, ELINT/ESM, SIGINT and COMINT/COMJAM, aerial refueling, Anti-Tactical Ballistic Missiles (ATBM), missiles, smart weapons, satellites and launchers, navigation, upgrading of military aircraft and helicopters, maintenance and conversion of commercial aircraft, and many other core technologies, products and services.

The Tata Group is one of India's largest and most respected business conglomerates, with revenues in 2006-07 of $28.8 billion (Rs129,994 crore), the equivalent of about 3.2 per cent of the country's GDP, and a market capitalization of $65 billion (as on Feb 8, 2008). Tata companies together employ over 300,000 people.