Rolls-Royce is opening a new service delivery centre in India to offer support for over 750 defence engines of 10 different engine types in use by the Indian armed forces. The new centre will be set up at Manyata Tech Park in Bengaluru and will offer localised engineering and technical support for the Indian Air Force and Navy.
There are multiple functions that will be performed by the new centre: it will offer expertise in fleet management, service engineering and supply-chain co-ordination. The centre will also aid in manufacturing, assembly and test in collaboration with HAL.
According to the officials of Rolls-Royce, the centre in Bengaluru will be based on the one already set up at Royal Air Force Marham, UK. There will be support for all types of engines that have been supplied by Rolls Royce to India so far. The centre at UK is already supporting the adour engines powering the US Navy's T-45 Goshawk trainer fleet.
In India too, the centre will majorly support the adour engine, which is being used by the Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer and the Jaguar combat aircraft. It will also support the Gnome version of the engine being used by the Sea Kings. The civil version of the engine being used by civilian aircrafts will also get the support of the centre.
The whole purpose behind setting up a delivery centre is to have readily-available staff, which is trained in offering support to the engines like adour and other types at critical moments. Typically, sales happen quickly, but back-up support and service after sales are poor in India. Rolls-Royce wants to change this and be quick in its response to requirements of the military forces.
The company's Trent 700 engines power the Airbus A330 aircraft used by Jet Airways for their long-haul operations. Rolls-Royce also has a 50:50 partnership with HAL to manufacture components for its Trent family of engines.
Rolls-Royce officials say that like many other global companies their ultimate goal was to generate IPs (intellectual property) out of India. "We are in R&D today, but we can get into systems, bigger packages, serving bigger development needs that might be into futuristic technology. That's the direction we are thinking about and that's the direction we are moving in," a senior company official said.
