OREANDA-NEWS. The Javelin™ Joint Venture team, a partnership between Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Tata Power Company Limited operating through its Strategic Engineering Division (SED), to explore co-development and production of the Javelin anti-armor missile system.

"This agreement brings together three world leaders in aerospace and defense technology to extend Javelin to new customers, new applications and new platforms," said John Halvey, Javelin Joint Venture president at Raytheon Missile Systems. "With this deal, we are also reinforcing our continued support of the 'Make in India' initiative."

As part of the LOI, the Javelin Joint Venture (JJV) and Tata Power SED will create a strategy to co-develop and produce the Javelin missile system and integrate platform mounts to meet Indian requirements. This includes ground combat vehicle, dismounted infantry and rotorcraft applications.

"The combat-proven Javelin continues to fulfill a critical precision-strike role with our domestic and international partners," said Rich Benton, Javelin Joint Venture vice president and Javelin program director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "We look forward to working with Tata Power SED to maximize the versatility and lethality of Javelin on these new platforms."

In addition to meeting the Government of India's "Make in India" objectives, the LOI establishes a framework for future technological cooperation between the Javelin Joint Venture and Tata Power SED.

"Since the early 1980s,Tata Power SED has established its R&D and 'Make in India' credentials, as part of Dr. Kalam's Integrated Guided Missile Development Program," said Rahul Chaudhry, Chief Executive Officer at Tata Power SED. "Now, our partnership with the JJV will bring the world's best technology to our soldiers enabling battlefield supremacy. Indian industry will benefit immensely from the depth and range of this planned technology transfer and co-development."

About Javelin 
Javelin is a compact, lightweight missile designed for one-soldier operations in all environments. It is made by the Javelin Joint Venture, a partnership between Raytheon Company and Lockheed Martin. Javelin has been adopted by international armed forces around the world. It is currently fielded with the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps, and has also been approved for 15 foreign military sales customers.

About Tata Power SED
The Tata Power Company Limited operating through it' Strategic Engineering Division (Tata Power SED) has been a leading private-sector player in the indigenous Design, Development, Production, Integration, Supply and Life-cycle Support of mission critical Defence Systems of Strategic importance, for close to four decades. During this period, the Division has partnered the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Armed Forces, DPSUs and DRDO in the development & supply of state-of- the-art Systems and emerged as a Prime Contractor to MoD for Indigenous Defence Production when it secured Orders for Pinaka Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher, Akash Army Launcher and Integrated EW System for the Indian Army and for the Akash Air Force Launcher, COTS-based Automatic Data Handling System for Air Defence and Modernisation of Airfield Infrastructure (MAFI) for the Indian Air Force, Tactical Communication Systems and Battlefield Management Systems.