Defense-Aerospace.com reports that Airbus Helicopters has awarded a contract to India’s Mahindra Aerostructures to make airframe parts for the AS565 MBe Panther, at the company’s facility in Bangalore.. The parts will be shipped to the Airbus Helicopter production line in Marignane, France where they will be integrated with the rest of the airframe assembly for  Panthers sold worldwide. 

The Panther is an all-weather, multi-role light rotorcraft, designed for operation from ship decks, offshore locations and land-based sites. It is made for a multitude of naval warfare and coast guard missions such as maritime surveillance, search and rescue, casualty evacuation, EEZ Surveillance & control counter-terrorism and Anti Surface / Antisubmarine warfare.

Mahindra Aerostructures is the first Indian company to receive a direct manufacturing contract from Airbus Helicopters as a Tier 1 supplier. Fabrice Cagnat, Director-Make in India, Airbus Helicopters said, “We are playing an active role in the development of a helicopter-focused Indian industrial eco-system, and are embedding Indian suppliers into our global supply chain.”