Belgium’s John Cockerill partners with Electro Pneumatics for India defence foray

New Delhi: Belgium-based John Cockerill has forayed into India’s defence sector with a partnership with Electro Pneumatics & Hydraulics Pvt Ltd.

John Cockerill Defence and Electro Pneumatics on Tuesday signed a joint venture (JV) agreement to manufacture turrets for Indian Army’s Light Tank Programme, according to a statement.

It would be 60:40 JV with John Cockerill Defence holding the majority stake. Turrets will be manufactured at Electro Pneumatics’ Chakan facility in Pune, Maharashtra.

The JV would look at adding more products in its portfolio depending on the demand, said Francois Michel, group CEO at John Cockerill.

Both the companies have entered into the joint venture agreement for “combining their technological, manufacturing and innovation capabilities to strengthen India’s defense ecosystem”, said a statement from John Cockerill.

Harnessing global expertise

“The joint venture will harness John Cockerill’s global expertise in advanced weapon systems and Electro Pneumatics & Hydraulics’ extensive local knowledge to provide world-class defense solutions tailored to the specific needs of the Indian armed forces,” said the statement.

In February last year, Mint had reported that the Belgium-headquartered company is looking at entering India’s defence manufacturing space with an Indian player.

John Cockerill is already present in the steel and green hydrogen space in India. Its joint venture with Greenko is setting up a 2-gigawatt electrolyzer facility. The company also provides equipment to the steel industry and is supplying decarbonization technologies for the sector which is a big polluter.

Established in 1972, Electro Pneumatics & Hydraulics provides turnkey solutions, products and machines for the automotive, railway, ship building, defence, furniture, white goods, boiler and power generation and infrastructure sectors.

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