BAE Systems looks to boost Indian outsourcing

BAE Systems held an event in New Delhi on 10 April to boost the scope of its industrial outsourcing across India.

The company’s supplier summit – attended by nearly 100 local vendors – was the second it has held in the country in successive years.

BAE Systems said that during the event it shared “viable new business opportunities” with Indian companies looking to enter the company’s supply chains. “The event reaffirmed BAE Systems’ drive to develop the capabilities of quality suppliers to support a range of programmes both in India and around the world,” the company noted.

BAE Systems is looking to increase outsourcing from India in programmes such as its M777 lightweight howitzer (pictured), which it is also building in India in partnership with Mahindra & Mahindra. (BAE Systems)

BAE Systems added that it spends USD12 billion annually with 21,000 external suppliers across the world and that it considers India a “key growth market to further expand its network”. The company did not disclose the scope of its existing outsourcing to India.

However, Paul Smith, chief procurement officer at BAE Systems, said, “One of BAE Systems’ strategic imperatives for 2019 and beyond is to identify and work with greater numbers of qualified and capable Indian suppliers.”

While the company aims to offer opportunities to Indian industry to subcontract on international programmes, domestic projects that BAE Systems has under way in India will also provide a channel into the company's supply chains.

The company’s primary domestic projects include the production of M777 155 mm/39-calibre lightweight howitzers for the Indian Army, the support of Hawk advanced jet trainers for the Indian Air Force (IAF), and the supply of mission and display systems on board the Indian Navy’s Boeing P-8I maritime surveillance aircraft.