New Delhi: Deepak Chhibba was Monday named CEO of the Mahindra & Mahindra-BAE Systems joint venture, Defence Land Systems India, with Arne Berglund as his deputy.

Chhibba was earlier executive vice president for International Operations at Mahindra & Mahindra and has over 32 years of industrial experience, a company statement said.

Berglund was previously a director at BAE Systems global combat systems in Britain.

He has also worked in Singapore, Canada, Sweden and the U.S. with various BAE Systems and other joint venture companies.

A key project of the joint venture is the development of a mine-protected vehicle specifically designed to meet the needs of the Indian armed and paramilitary forces, the company said.

"In addition, it is anticipated that Defence Land Systems India will be involved in a number of future artillery programmes, with the ambition to become an artillery centre of excellence in India that covers not just manufacturing but development, testing and support," it added.

Anand Mahindra, vice chairman and managing director of the Mahindra Group, said: "As a fully operational joint venture, Defence Land Systems India will bring real and lasting value to India's growing defence industry."

Guy Griffiths, group managing director (International) at BAE Systems, said: "This company is founded with the express purpose of serving the Indian armed forces and the Indian economy through the creation of high quality jobs, the development of innovative technologies and system integration skills, and benefits from the leadership of two world class companies.

"We firmly support the Indian government's aim of procuring 70 percent of defence

equipment domestically and see the establishment of this company as a major

contribution towards this objective," Griffiths added.

Defence Land Systems India will be headquartered in New Delhi with manufacturing at a purpose-built facility south of Faridabad, just outside of Delhi.

Initially, there will be about 100 employees. Existing projects include the Axe high-mobility vehicle as well as armoured and bulletproof Scorpios, Boleros, Rakshaks, Rapid Intervention Vehicles and the Marksman light armoured vehicle.

The parent companies' initial investment will be Rs.995 million ($21.25 million) over a three year period. The company's equity split will be 74 percent Mahindra and 26 percent BAE Systems in accordance with the current defence sector foreign direct investment regulations of the Indian government.