Saab (Sweden) and Indian infrastructure conglomerate Adani Group have announced a plan to pursue aerospace-defence collaboration in India, in accordance with the government’s “Make in India” initiative.

The intended collaboration would encompass design, development and production of Gripen for India and other high-tech products of national importance for India and also the creation of joint ventures in India in line with and in support of the Make In India policy.

The new partnership will go head-to-head with Lockheed Martin and Indian partner Tata in the contest to supply single-engine fighters for the Indian Air Force — for which the U.S firm’s F-16 Block 70 and Saab’s Gripen E are the two contenders.

Saab has already outlined its plans to create a “new defence eco-system” in India in collaboration with a major Indian partner. The objective is to combine the technical and product excellence of Saab, with the industrial engineering, system integration and mega project execution capabilities of Adani.

A critical part of the joint roadmap would be to encourage the development of small and medium sized enterprises along with a robust national supply chain.