Author: Crown Group

The Crown Group with over 40 years of expertise in Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) activities with their recent major international OEM tie-ups is fully equipped and all set to provide full MRO & Avionics support to existing fleet of Indian Fighter Jets such as Mig 29K of the Indian Navy and MiG-29, Jaguar, Mirage 2000 and Sukoi – 30 of the Indian Air Force.

Crown Group Defence, India’s leading defence MRO major supporting the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” initiative has set up two state of the art facilities managed by a core team of trained professionals, both from the military and industry catering to Defence Aerospace MRO and Avionics repairs, including an NABL accredited calibration laboratory in Goa along with six world-class facilities & workshops pan India for taking on specialised MRO & manufacturing activities based on customer requirements.

Crown Group’s Aerospace division companies, ‘Aviatech Enterprises Private limited’ (AEPL) and ‘Zealtek Enterprises Private Limited’ (ZEPL) together provide quality technical services to the aviation sector of the Indian armed forces viz. the Indian Navy and the Indian Airforce. These companies assist the Armed Forces to maintain their aircraft and onboard equipment operational; catering to equipment supplied by varied OEMs worldwide.

Both Aviatech and Zealtek have technical collaborations with major OEMs that enable them to provide the following quality services:

* ROH of defence aviation Rotables.

* Design and Development of airborne equipment.

* Design and Development of ground testers associated to operations of various Eastern and Western origin aircrafts.

* Supply of genuine OEM spares for Indian Navy, Indian Air Force and HAL.

* Provision of NABL Accredited calibration services to calibrate all types of instruments that measures AC/DC and RF; including Mechanical gauges from -0.865 to 600 bar.

Rear Adm Devender Sudan (Retd), Head of Aerospace Crown Group Defence said “Crown Group’s focus is on expanding in-country capability towards Defence Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) of aircrafts and its aggregates, along with manufacturing. We have partnered with international OEMs, and also undertaken in-house development, to demonstrate the commitment of Crown Group to further the Govt. of India’s vision of achieving self-reliance, particularly in defence sector.”

Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) is a vital part in an aircraft’s lifecycle, and its cost and time for overhaul affect operations and smooth functioning. MRO of fighter jets and associated equipment requires a lot of skill, experience, aviation safety where strict checks and procedures must be followed.

India has fairly large military aviation assets that have been acquired from international OEMs over last many years. Keeping these assets serviceable and combat-ready is paramount and has been a much bigger challenge over acquisition, especially so in times when spares, components and technology supply lines have been affected due to various reasons.

“Indigenisation of military aviation MRO is even more critical for making Atmanirbhar Bharat a success. Indigenous MRO from organised private sector should be highly encouraged for success of Make in India.” Said Vikas Banga, Chief Strategy Officer, Crown Group Defence.

“Indian Military Aviation forces should ensure that critical equipment is maintained through Indian organisations having original OEM tie-ups. This will not only ensure a better quality of service but also enhance the life of the equipment with improved functioning of mission-critical equipment.” Added Vikas Banga.

Crown Group Defence recently partnered with a leading French electronic system manufacturing and testing group, to establish Electronic Repair Center and for joint development and deployment of maintenance test solutions for the Indian Defence sector.

Through its partnership with OEMs who are engaged in the business of design, manufacturing and support of Automatic Test Equipment (ATE), test programs, test systems and associated services intended for the Development, Integration, Production and Maintenance of Electronic Systems, Crown Group will utilize their respective technical expertise and capabilities, towards enhancing operational availability of aircraft fleets and contribute to the security of the nation.

“Leading the way in making India self-reliant in defence MRO & manufacturing, Crown Group Defence has opened its indigenous facilities to international companies to partner and leverage its capabilities for setting up MRO & manufacturing base in the country, thereby leading to reduced timeframes for repair and enhanced operational availability of assets.” Said Vice Adm Paras Nath (Retd) AVSM, VSM, Group President, Crown Group Defence.

Crown Group Defence will showcase its indigenously developed technology innovations in maintenance, modernisation, repair and servicing for the Indian Aviation-Defence Forces, Air Force, Navy, Land Forces and Coast Guard at the Aero-India 2023, 13th – 17th February 2023, at Chalet no. 41, Air Force Station, Yelahanka, Bengaluru.

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Crown Group Defence has established itself as a premier supplier of equipment to both the Indian Army and Navy. In a wide ranging interview with Raksha Anirveda, Cmde Rakesh Anand (Retd.), Head of Marine Division, Crown Group Defence talks about the contributions made by the Marine Division of the Crown Group to make India ‘Atmanirbhar’ in Defence MRO & Manufacturing sectors.

RA: Why is the development of indigenous Defence MRO capabilities for India important?

Cmde RA: To maintain and service India’s huge defence assets, it is very important for our country to develop indigenous Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) capabilities as we need to maintain and service our military assets on a regular basis to be in battle ready mode all the time.

With Government of India’s thrust on ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ vis-a-vis the current environment and defence ecosystem, great opportunities have arisen for MSMEs to build their capabilities to meet current and future challenges in the Defence MRO sector.

RA: What are the key specialised activities of the Crown Group Defence’s Marine division?

Cmde RA: Our Marine division comprises of two companies, Dynatron Services Private Limited (Dynatron) and OSK India Private Limited (OIPL) which cater to the MRO & servicing needs of Operational Readiness of the Indian defence sector, particularly in the Marine sector.

Dynatron Services, which has been serving the Indian Navy and Coast Guard for more than four decades, provides ship repairs, general engineering maintenance, ship modernisation services, ship refits, marketing and after-sales support for mechanical and electronic systems. Apart from other projects, we have been supporting MRO activities for the Indian Navy’s only amphibious warship, procured from the United States, INS Jalashwa, and are also involved in providing support to India’s only aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya including other naval warships, submarines and aircrafts.

Dynatron Services has sole authorisation for repairs and maintenance of Gearboxes and thrusters from ZF Marine (Germany) and an exclusive partnership with Kubota Engines (Japan) coupled with Mase Generators (Italy), for providing MRO services to the Indian Navy.

OSK India has a state-of-the-art electronics repair facility in Mumbai specialising in the repair of electronic modules and weapon systems of international origin. We have recently repaired critical weapon equipment for the Indian Navy and are currently working on the subsequent order.

RA: What are the major challenges, which the Indian MRO companies face in India?

Cmde RA: The challenges Indian MRO companies face are first, the cyclic workload as it is not foreseeable and thereby leads to problems associated with creation of capacities and capabilities quickly.  One of the main reasons for the low volume of MRO work in India is the fact that a number of platforms, which are available for the civil MRO industry, are technically quite rudimentary.  It is anticipated that coming years would bring in better time for the Indian Marine industry, as large number of ships and submarines are being inducted by the Indian Navy, which would lead to greater volume of work for the MRO Industry.  The government’s incentives of reduced taxation in the country would lower the cost of MRO services and thus make it attractive to both Indian and International naval and merchant marine ships to get repairs undertaken in India.

RA: Crown Group Marine MRO support facilities are located in which states in India?

Cmde RA: Crown Group Defence has set up six world-class facilities and workshops pan India for taking on specialised MRO and manufacturing activities based on customer requirements. We have one of the largest facilities in Karwar – Karnataka, which is Asia’s biggest Defence Naval Base, to undertake mechanical and electro-mechanical repairs, primarily for the Indian Navy. We have set up an electronics repair and manufacturing facility in OIPL Mumbai – Maharashtra, where we carry out repairs of complex weapon equipment, PCBs and electronic modules. In addition, we have two ship repair workshops in Chennai – Tamil Nadu and Vizag – Andhra Pradesh.

RA: Can you briefly describe about Dynatron & OIPL’s tie-ups with international and national OEMs?

Cmde RA: Dynatron has a long-term partnership with ZF Marine (Germany) and the sole authorisation for repairs and maintenance of gearboxes and thrusters from ZF Marine (Germany).

Dynatron also has an exclusive partnership with Kubota Engines (Japan) and Mase Generators (Italy) for sales and ongoing support. In a drive to support indigenisation of equipment for Indian naval ships and submarines, Dynatron has also tied up with WILO Pumps, one of the world’s leading premium providers of pumps and pump systems and Meru Pumps based out of Ahmedabad, helping them customise their products as per defence specifications.

At DefExpo 2022 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, OIPL has signed a major MoU with Meson Valves India Pvt. Ltd., which has appointed OIPL as its exclusive dealer for naval and marine valves and fittings in India and other countries. It will supply to: Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (HDW Class Submarine refits and life extension projects), Goa Shipyard (Talwar Class Frigates only), Naval Dockyards in India and Defence exports outside India and meet other naval and marine requirements.

OIPL signed another MoU at DefExpo 2022 with Infinity Radar for development and marketing of below mentioned defence machinery and equipment jointly developed by both the parties, to: Military/Defence, Government and other law enforcement agencies, Marine, Navy and Coast Guard, for supply of; C-UAS & Anti Drone, Perimeter Security, Critical Infrastructure Monitoring, RF Systems/Sub-System Design & Development, Antenna Development, Long Range Threat Detection & Identification, Targeting System and Auto Tracking and Drivers Air of EO/IR solutions for autonomous Vehicles.

Dynatron at DefExpo has signed an exclusive Channel Partner MoU with Teignbridge Propellers India Pvt Ltd for providing a wide range of propellers and shafting to the mid and small segments of boats and crafts for the India market which includes all ship yards, government and other private organisations. Some of the Customers assigned by Teignbridge in India are: Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, Goa Shipyard Ltd, Cochin Shipyard Ltd., Hindustan Shipyard Ltd., Shalimar Works (1980) Ltd., and Titagarh Wagons Ltd.

RA: Why the various international defence OEMs chosen Dynatron and OIPL to partner with, in India?

Cmde RA: Basically, global OEMs are looking for organised players to help them maintain and service their equipment and provide quality service to their customers in India, they found it easy to partner with us because of our world class MRO facilities and workshops spread across India and experience in working with International OEMs.

Dynatron Services Private Limited (Dynatron) and OSK India Private Limited (OIPL) are one of the only organised and fully equipped players in India that are present across all the coastal cities, catering to the MRO and servicing of Indian naval ships, providing both Marine engineering and weapons system MRO support to Indian Navy and Coast Guard. They have fully functional state-of-the-art facilities in Karwar, Mumbai, Goa and Chennai.

In addition, for International OEMs, it is much more economical to partner with local players who already have facilities and understand the local business environment.

Global OEM’s also trust Crown Group’s core competency, which lies in its technical and professional team. Crown Group is one of the very few companies to have ex-servicemen from Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, right from the top level to mid and ground level, who bring their years of valuable experience to Crown Group Defence.

This puts Crown Group Defence in a strong position to support the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ by partnering with foreign OEMs in expanding the MRO base in India and taking forward the government’s vision under ‘Make in India’ programme.

RA: Apart from critical MRO services, does Crown Group Defence have any plans to start manufacturing of defence components and equipment in India?

Cmde RA: Crown Group has already established facilities and received orders for design and manufacturing of complex PCBs for specialised equipment in OIPL, Mumbai.

We are further working towards establishing indigenous manufacturing facilities for components and spares that have higher volumes or are categorised as consumables.

Keeping with government’s focus on promoting self-reliance in defence manufacturing and positioning India as an exporter of military hardware, Crown Group’s focus is on indigenisation through both tie-ups with international OEMs and in-house research and development.

Crown Group’s focus is on indigenisation, MRO & manufacturing through both tie-ups with international OEMs and innovative activities in collaboration with various leading incubation centres in the country.

We are also engaging with academia across India to bring out technologically advanced solutions that will strengthen and modernise the Indian Defence sector. We have tied up with Amrita University to promote Defence R&D. We are also in advance talks for collaboration with IITs and other reputed Universities for various defence projects.

RA: Does Crown Group caters to the civil side of merchant shipping industry, also?

Cmde RA: Yes, the entire range of services which are currently being offered to Naval ships, apart from weapon system repairs and services, is also being offered to Merchant shipping industry. Both Dynatron and OIPL have MoU with International OEMs amongst which there are those whose product range falls in the dual use category (i.e. civil and defence).  The product range of such companies consists of hydraulic systems, system valves, pumps, compressors etc.  Thus, apart from undertaking services for foreign origin equipment of naval ships and submarines, merchant ship repairs can also be undertaken for various systems.

RA: How is Crown Group’s Marine division contributing to making India ‘Atmanirbhar’ in Defence MRO and manufacturing sectors?

Cmde RA: Crown Group Defence with a legacy of more than four decades has established itself as India’s leading defence MRO major, providing critical services to the Indian Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard through its various group companies and meets the recent Defence MRO requirements.

Leading the way in making India self-reliant in defence MRO and manufacturing, Crown Group Defence is establishing indigenous MRO and manufacturing facilities and forging technological tie-ups with international OEMs to provide critical services to Indian armed forces as their service and supply partner.

Motto of Crown Group Defence is to “Serve the Nation” by partnering with our defence forces to provide quality support. The Group has opened its MRO and manufacturing facilities to international companies to partner and leverage its facilities and capabilities for setting up MRO and manufacturing base in the country, keeping abreast with the ‘Make in India’ strategy, thereby leading to reduced timeframes for repair and enhanced operational availability of assets.

RA: What should the government do to boost the Indian Defence and Marine MRO sector?

Cmde RA: The maritime transport is the backbone of global trade and global economy.  The maritime industry has grown rapidly over the years with the addition of ships to the national fleet and additionally private and government companies are making investments worldwide.  The strength of the fleet has been increasing over the years to make India an attractive MRO hub.

Both the Indian Navy and the maritime sectors are on a growth path as shipbuilding continues to grow in the country. With India’s growth in naval strength and the merchant marine, the MRO sector is also on a growth path. To give a boost to the Marine MRO sector, the government needs to focus on reducing taxation, enable creation of MRO ecosystem and provide all due skill sets for handling efficient repairs.

With the creation of industrial clusters focussed on marine MRO, it would be possible to increase the industry’s scale and thereby make the Indian Maritime MRO economically viable.  Continuous focus of the government for creation of such maritime clusters would enable in shifting the present leaders in MRO in the region i.e. Dubai and Colombo, to India.

RA: What are Dynatron and OIPL’s future expansion and growth plans for India?

Cmde RA: We are focusing on the MRO projects at hand, to establish authorised service centres with the required equipment and technically trained manpower to service the increasing MRO requirements. There is an ever-increasing need for indigenising such MRO activities, as it improves equipment availability and providing timely support at much lower costs.

The government’s ‘Make in India’ policy gives an impetus to undertake major repairs of warships and submarines within the country, which in earlier days, used to be done by sending to the countries of origin. With the envisaged growth, both the DSPL and OIPL are poised to scale up their operations by creating additional capacities and capabilities.  The largest DSPL workshop at Karwar is being geared up to meet the additional requirement of workload of ZF Gear Boxes and Thrusters as also enhance the repair work in Chennai, Vizag and Port Blair. As far as OIPL is concerned, it intends to commence operations in Chennai and Vizag.  We, thus, foresee a phenomenal growth in the activities and revenue of both DSPL and OIPL in the next five years.

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The electronic repair centre is to be established in Goa, which will cater to maintenance engineering services and is intended to be functional in 2023.

French electronic system manufacturing and testing group, Spherea signed an MoU with Crown Group, a defence maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) firm on Wednesday at DefExpo 2022 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

Both companies to establish an electronic repair centre for the development and deployment of maintenance test solutions for the Indian defence sector under “Make in India.”

According to the statement, the electronic repair centre is to be established in Goa, which will cater maintenance engineering services, including repair and life extension solutions for electronic devices. However, the repair centre is intended to be inaugurated in 2023.

“We are delighted to have the leading French testing solutions company, Spherea, as our partner. We look forward to building the partnership with Spherea and utilising our respective technical expertise and capabilities, towards enhancing operational availability of aircraft fleets and contributing to the security of the nation,” Rear Adm Devender Sudan (Retd) said, Head of Aerospace division, Crown Group Defence.

Regarding the tie-up, Florence Pabon, Vice President (Sales) of Spherea Group said that India and France have a long history of defence cooperation and this partnership will add another milestone to this glorious relationship. Crown Group Defence has been a leading contributor to the Indian defence sector and we believe that this partnership will allow us to use our technical expertise in the testing of electronics to benefit the Indian defence projects under the “Make in India” and “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” initiatives.

Spherea has been in the business of design, manufacturing and support of automatic test equipment (ATE), test programs, test systems and associated services intended for the development, integration, production and maintenance of electronic Systems, according to the statement.

Christian Dabasse, President and CEO of Spherea Group said that we are joining hands with Crown Group Defence with an aim to demonstrate India’s vision of achieving self-reliance, particularly in defence technologies.

“Partnering with a major French testing solution company will bring its technical and industrial expertise and help strengthen our capabilities as we continue to expand and make strategic tie-ups that accelerate our growth plans,” said Vice Adm Paras Nath (Retd) AVSM, VSM, Group President of Crown Group Defence.

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Crown Group Defence, which is into providing MRO [Maintenance Repair Overhaul] support in the areas of Marine Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Military Engineering and Weapon systems to the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Land and Aviation forces, has announced its foray into offering MRO services to merchant shipping industry to capitalise on the Government’s “Make in India” and “Atmanirbhar Bharat” initiatives.

The group has offered to provide MRO services to global OEMs [Original Equipment Manufacturers] in line with the prevailing policies.

It is also planning to expand into shipbuilding and is in talks to acquire shipyards in the west coast where it has large facilities, top executives of the group said.

Crown Group Defence currently offers its services to the entire spectrum covering aerospace, maritime and land defence and now plans to scale up be a $1 billion enterprise by 2028 through various activities.

“Our Marine division, comprising of Dynatron Services Pvt. Ltd. (DSPL) & OSK India Pvt. Ltd. (OIPL), which is catering to the MRO & servicing of Indian Naval ships and Submarines, will now extend its fully functional Defence/Naval ship repair facilities in Karwar, Mumbai, Goa, Vishakhapatnam and Chennai for the indigenous MRO of merchant ships” Vice Admiral Paras Nath (Retd.), Group President, Crown Group Defence said in an interview.

“Our entire range of services which is currently being offered to Naval ships such as hull, engineering and electrical repairs will now be offered to merchant shipping industry,” he added adding the group has mobilised the right talent to harness the growth opportunities.

On the group’s entry into the civilian segment, Commodore Rakesh Anand (Retd.), Head of Marine Division, said “Both DSPL and OIPL have partnerships with global OEMs whose product range falls in the dual use category which is civil and defence.”

“The product range namely Hydraulic Systems, System Valves, Pumps, Compressors, Gearboxes, Thrusters, Radar, and electronic equipment are the applicable for civil and defence use. Thus, apart from undertaking services for foreign origin equipment installed in Naval ships and submarines, merchant ship repairs can also be undertaken involving various systems,” he added.

“The thrust towards diversifying into the civil MRO services has been initiated both by DSPL and OIPL. While OIPL has made forays into electronic repair requirement of the Indian Railway, DSPL is aiming to venture into undertaking repairs of Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) ships and meet the requirements of ONGC, HPCL ” said Commodore Anand.

Vikas Banga, Group’s chief strategy officer said “Global OEMs that are looking for organised players to help them maintain & service their equipment and provide quality service to their customers in India, find it easy to partner with us because of our world class MRO facilities & workshops spread across India and experience in working with International OEMs.”
“For International OEMs it is much more economical to partner with local players who already have facilities and understand the local business environment,” he said.

On Thursday Dynatron Services Pvt Ltd, signed an MoU with WILO Mather and Platt Pumps Pvt. Ltd., one of the world’s leading premium providers of pumps and pump systems, to support indigenisation of equipment for Indian Naval ships and submarines.

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Vice Adm Paras Nath (Retd.) AVSM, VSM, Group President, Crown Group Defence talks about India laying impetus on indigenization of Defence MRO and how Crown Group Defence is contributing to making India’ Aatmanirbhar’ in Defence MRO & Manufacturing Ship Repair Facility in Karwar.

Crown Group Defence successfully handled MRO job for India’s only aircraft carrier ‘INS Vikramaditya’, amphibious warship ‘INS Jalashwa’ and various other Marine, Aerospace and Avionics projects.

1. Tell us about Crown Group Defence & its Defence Companies
Crown Group Defence started with a vision to support the Indian defence forces in the maintenance of high-value equipment supplied by international OEMs by setting up maintenance and repair facilities in collaboration with the OEMs. With active businesses in Defence Engineering for over 40 years, Crown Group Defence has now established itself as one of the most reliable players in the MRO sector. We are now scaling up our defence businesses in alignment with the Atmanaribhar Bharat vision as a strategic partner with OEMs to support the defence forces through our various divisions.

The Group has established three verticals to service the needs of Operational Readiness of the Indian defence sector through its group companies, which are:

1. ‘Dynatron Services Private Limited’ (Dynatron) and ‘OSK India Private Limited’ (OIPL) for Marine Engineering
2.‘Aviatech Enterprises Private Limited’ (Aviatech) and ‘Zealtek Enterprises Private Limited’ (Zealtek) for Aerospace and Avionics
3.‘C1 India Private Limited’ for Cyber Security, Artificial Intelligence and Land forces
2.‘Aviatech Enterprises Private Limited’ (Aviatech) and ‘Zealtek Enterprises Private Limited’ (Zealtek) for Aerospace and Avionics
3.‘C1 India Private Limited’ for Cyber Security, Artificial Intelligence and Land forces

2. What all services you offer to the Indian Navy
Crown Group Defence’s core philosophy is to deliver on the “Make in India” vision by partnering with global OEMs to induct the latest technologies providing manufacturing and MRO services for critical equipment in use by Indian defence forces. We have created local MRO workshops that reduce the time required for critical support and increase the availability of mission-critical equipment.

Dynatron Services, which has been serving the Indian Navy & Coast Guard for more than four decades, provides ship repair, general engineering, ship modernization, ship refits, marketing & after-sales support for mechanical & electronic systems. Apart from other projects, we were supporting MRO activities for the Indian Navy’s only amphibious warship from the United States, INS Jalashwa, and we are also involved in providing support to India’s only aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, Naval Warships, Submarines & Aircrafts.

Dynatron Services has sole authorization for repairs and maintenance of Gearboxes & thrusters from ZF Marine (Germany) & exclusive partnership with Kubota engines Japan coupled with Mase Generators, Italy, for providing MRO services to the Indian Navy.

OSK India has a state-of-the-art electronics repair facility in Mumbai specializing in the repair of electronic modules and weapon systems of international origin. We have recently repaired critical weapon equipment for the Indian Navy and currently working on the next order.

Aviatech specializes in Defence Aerospace MRO and Aviation Engineering services, including engineering design, Manufacturing, Product development & Production for Indigenisation. Aviatech and Zealtek are currently providing maintenance support and repairs for major Naval Aviation assets, including repair of LRUs and calibration of UAVs for the Indian Navy.

3. What all facilities have Crown Group Defence set up in India?
Crown Group Defence has set up five world-class facilities & workshops pan India for taking on specialized activities based on customer requirements at each location. We have one of the largest facilities in Karwar, which is Asia’s biggest Defence Naval Base, to take on mechanical and electro-mechanical repairs primarily for the Indian Navy. In Goa, we have set up two facilities catering to Defence Aerospace MRO and Avionics repairs, including a NABL, an accredited calibration laboratory.

We have recently set up an electronics facility in Mumbai where we are doing repairs to complex weapon equipment, PCBs and electronic modules.

In addition, we have two ship repair workshops in Chennai and Vizag with satellite offices in Cochin, Port Blair, Calcutta, Andaman & Nicobar. Our corporate office is in Delhi, which coordinates and provides strategic decision support to our customers.

4. How Crown Group is contributing to making India’ Aatmanirbhar’ in defence MRO & Manufacturing
Over the years, India has procured multiple military assets from foreign OEMs that are mission-critical and important for being battle ready. Maintaining these defence equipment supplied by foreign OEMs is an expensive and time-consuming affair as these have to be mostly sent overseas for repairs. Crown Group Defence is one of the only organized and fully equipped players with MRO facilities on both the western and eastern coasts and support offices across the coastal cities in India.

Leading the way in making India self-reliant in defence MRO manufacturing, Crown Group Defence has also opened its MRO & manufacturing facilities to international companies to partner and leverage its facilities and capabilities for setting up MRO & manufacturing base in the country, keeping abreast with the ‘Make in India’ strategy, thereby leading to reduced timeframes for repair and enhanced operational availability of assets.

We also have a ‘Make in India Vertical’ within the Group to identify upcoming critical equipment requirements of the Armed Forces and focus on fulfilling these requirements through Indigenisation under the ‘Make in India’ program.

5. Why have the International Defence OEMs chosen Crown Group Defence to partner in India
Global OEMs that are looking for organized players to help them maintain & service their equipment, providing quality service to their customers in India, find it easy to partner with Crown Group. This is because of the professional team with experienced personnel from defence, our world-class facilities & capabilities along with ongoing robust partnerships with some of the major international Defence OEMs for MRO of Indian naval marine and aviation assets. All these together put Crown Group Defence in a strong position to support any foreign company in setting up their manufacturing/MRO base in India and taking forward the vision under Make in India.

For International OEMs, it is much more economical to partner with local players who already have facilities and understand the local business environment.
We are extremely quality conscious; we deliver on time and have received several commendations from both the customers and international OEMs.

Appreciation of the outstanding MRO services and on-time delivery of critical projects has helped the Group secure a good deal of MRO contracts from the Indian Armed Forces, including the Coast Guard.

6. Does Crown Group Defence plan to indigenously manufacture Defence components & equipment in India?
Yes, we are working towards establishing indigenous manufacturing facilities for components and spares that have higher volumes or are categorized as consumables.
Keeping with Govt’s focus on promoting self-reliance in defence manufacturing and positioning India as an exporter of military hardware, Crown Group’s focus is on indigenization through both ties up with international OEMs and in-house research and development.

Crown Group is authorized to manufacture landing gear spares for fighter jets. Group is currently working on manufacturing and cloning PCBs for weapon systems through its Mumbai facilities.
In a drive to support the indigenization of equipment for Indian Naval Ships and Submarines, Crown Group has tied up with WILO Pumps, one of the world’s leading premium providers of pumps & pump systems and Meru Pumps based out of Ahmedabad, helping them customize their products to defence specifications.

We are focused on engaging with academia across India to bring out technologically advanced solutions that will strengthen & modernize the Indian Defence sector and have tied up with Amrita University to promote Defence R&D. We are also in advance talks for collaboration with IITs & other reputed Universities for various Defence projects.

7. Is Crown Group also into export of Defence equipment
Crown Group has an export division under the name of Crown Corporation. The Group has exported Indian manufactured Submarine batteries and is authorized to export torpedo, missile, aircraft batteries and battery management systems in addition to indigenized multi-functional displays for aircraft.

Crown Group has been participating in National and International Defence Fares/Exhibitions showcasing these products to grow the export business.

8. What are your views on the steps taken by the Indian Govt. to make India self-reliant in Defence MRO? Do you think India is on the right track to becoming a Defence MRO hub?
Govt of India’s initiative in making Indian defence forces MRO self-reliant is indeed laudable. “Make in India” thrust will pay rich dividends in times to come. It is also a very good opportunity for MSMEs to grow. To conclude, India is on the right track to becoming a defence MRO hub.

9. What are your future expansion/growth plans
Crown Group Defence plans to become the most sought-after Indian company for the global OEMs to partner in India for indigenization and Make in India plans of our defence forces. With an experienced workforce having decades of experience and infrastructure facilities available in terms of workshops in several major locations, access to shipyards, airport infrastructure, and Centres of Excellence for all three services, Crown Group is already the preferred partner of choice for global OEMs.

The thrust of Crown Group Defence is to build up on all three fronts, Marine, Aviation and Land Systems. Our Marine Engineering division has been strong serving the Indian defence for more than 40 years. The experience, trained manpower, and infrastructure are already existing, and that’s where the organization’s thrust is. We expect our marine sector to be the biggest in our Group, led by Cmde Rakesh Anand (Ex-Chairman and MD, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders), as we look to acquire docking facilities on the Western Coastline. Our aviation company Aviatech Enterprises is going to expand much faster as aviation orders in the pipeline materialize. Regarding Army systems our associate company is supporting the tank production in India and organizing the modernization and indigenization of critical components as well as setting up a Centre of Excellence to ensure the subcontractors produce quality components for our armoured vehicles.

Crown Group’s focus is on indigenization of a wide range of Defence engineering products, setting up Manufacturing facilities under the ‘Make in India’ programme to undertake licenced production of regularly required spares by the Indian Navy, and setting up Fleet support centres at all major Naval stations to extend value-added services to the Indian Navy including services of Specialists from OEMs.

We also plan to strengthen our export business.

Crown Group Defence, dedicated to supporting India in its ‘Make in India’ & ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ journey, is focused on engaging with academia across India to bring out technologically advanced solutions that will strengthen & modernize the Indian Defence sector.

View on Outlook India

Leading the way in making India self-reliant in defence MRO & manufacturing, Crown Group Defence, one of India’s largest independent defence MRO major and a strategic partner to Indian defence forces invites international companies to partner and leverage its facilities and capabilities for setting up an MRO & manufacturing base in the country keeping abreast with the ‘Make in India’ strategy.

“We are open to partnerships with global OEMs through a range of cooperation models such as joint ventures, joint manufacturing, technology licensing, contract manufacturing, and know-how transfer arrangement etc,” said Vice Adm Paras Nath (Retd) AVSM, VSM, Group President, Crown Group Defence.

“The scope of work includes maintenance, modernisation, repair, servicing, design, development, manufacturing & technology partnerships with global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) providing defence equipment to Indian Defence Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force) who are seeking an opportunity to establish or expand their supply chains or MRO/manufacturing base in India to help make India “AatmaNirbhar” in defence MRO & Manufacturing,” said Vice Adm Paras Nath.

The Group President also said, “Our world-class facilities & capabilities along with ongoing robust partnerships with some of the major international Defence OEMs for MRO of Indian naval marine and aviation assets has put Crown Group Defence in a strong position to support any foreign company, in setting up their manufacturing/MRO base in India and taking forward the vision under Make in India.”

“This intensely increases the scope and scale of maintenance, repair and overhaul undertaken in the country and demonstrates both the companies’ commitment in helping make India Aatmanirbhar in defence and aerospace,” he further added.

With the release of three lists of defence items to be banned for import (positive indigenisation list) govt’s objectives of self-reliance in the defence sector, and promoting exports of military equipment, the defence minister Rajnath Singh has made it clear that India’s self-reliance in the defence sector does not mean working in isolation from the rest of the world.

It means working in our own country with their (foreign firms) active participation and support. This has opened up a huge opportunity for international OEMs to come & set up their base in India.

Crown Group Defence provides support to marine engineering, aerospace engineering, military engineering and weapon systems to the Indian Navy, coast guard, land and aviation forces with pan India presence across 12 cities with MRO facilities in Karwar, Mumbai, Goa, Visakhapatnam and Chennai and satellite offices in Cochin, Port Blair, Kolkata, Andaman & Nicobar and corporate offices in Delhi is contributing to India’s ever-growing defence & aerospace requirements.

“Global OEMs that are looking for organised players to help them maintain & service their equipment and provide quality service to their customers in India find it easy to partner with Crown Group because of their world-class MRO facilities & workshops spread across pan India and their experience in working with international OEMs. For International OEMs it is much more economical to partner with local players who already have facilities and understand the local business environment,” said Vikas Banga, Group’s Chief Strategy Officer.

Banga further said, “We are extremely quality conscious, we deliver on time and have received several commendations from both the customers and international OEMs.”

The group has three verticals to service the needs of operational readiness of the Indian defence sector through its group companies, which are:

1. ‘Dynatron Services Private Limited’ (DSPL) and ‘OSK India Private Limited’ (OIPL) for marine engineering
2. ‘Aviatech Enterprises Private Limited'(AEPL) and ‘Zealtek Enterprises Private Limited’ (ZEPL) for aerospace and avionics
3. ‘C1 India Private Limited’ for cyber security and online product support.
‘Dynatron Services Private Limited’ (DSPL) and ‘OSK India Private Limited’ (OIPL) are one of the only organized & fully equipped players that are present across all the coastal cities catering to the MRO & servicing of Indian naval ships, aircraft carrier, warships and the submarines at the naval base with their fully-functional state of the art facilities in Karwar, Mumbai, Goa and Chennai.

“Maintaining the defence equipment supplied by foreign OEMs is an expensive and time-consuming affair for the Indian defence sector as these have to be mostly sent overseas for the repairs. Through such partnerships with global OEMs, our aim is to bring the latest MRO & manufacturing technologies to India, cut the lead times, and provide product support at the right time at economical prices to the Indian Defence forces to help keep them battle-ready,” said Cmde Rakesh Anand (Retd), Head of Marine Division, Crown Group Defence

“Crown Group Defence in their commitment to promote Defence R&D has tied up with Amrita University for developing Indigenous Defence Technologies under Make in India programme and is in advance talks for collaboration with IITs & other reputed universities for various defence projects in the coming days with the objective of meeting the burgeoning skill needs of India’s fast-growing defence sector,” Cmde Rakesh Anand further added.

Appreciation of its outstanding MRO services and on-time delivery of critical projects has helped the group secure a good deal of MRO contracts from the Indian Navy, coast guard, land and aviation forces.

Crown Group Defence, the strategic partner to Indian defence forces supporting the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” initiative will showcase its indigenously developed technology innovations in manufacturing, maintenance, modernisation, repair and servicing for both Defence & Civil at The INMEX SMM India Expo from June 1 to June 3, 2022, at Jio World Convention Centre, BKC, Mumbai.

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