Lockheed says US may take 'fresh look' at its India F-16 plan
With no more orders for the F-16 from the Pentagon, Lockheed plans to use its Fort Worth, Texas plant instead to produce the fifth generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that the United States Air Force is transitioning to.
- Feb 9, 2017,
- Updated Feb 9, 2017 7:53 PM IST
US defence firm Lockheed Martin wants to push ahead with plans to move production of its F-16 combat jets to India, but understands President Donald Trump's administration may want to take a "fresh look" at the proposal.
With no more orders for the F-16 from the Pentagon, Lockheed plans to use its Fort Worth, Texas plant instead to produce the fifth generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that the United States Air Force is transitioning to.
Lockheed has said that moving F-16 assembly to India would create 200 engineering jobs in the United States to help support the production line in India.
It has also said that about 800 workers in the United States making the non-Lockheed parts for the F-16 would keep their jobs if construction shifts to India.
"We are offering to make the F-16 Block-70 aircraft with a local partner in India. This is an offer exclusive to India," Randall L. Howard, head of F-16 business development, told Reuters ahead of India's biggest air show beginning in Bengaluru next week.
In India, the F-16 is up against SAAB's Gripen combat aircraft, which the Swedish firm has also offered to make locally, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi drives a Make-in-India campaign to build a domestic aerospace industry and reduce costly imports.
The Indian government is expected to decide this year on which company will build a single-engine fighter plane, in collaboration with a local partner. A defence official said the process was at a very early stage.
The Indian air force alone needs 200-250 fighters over the next 10 years, its former chief Arup Raha said before he left office in December.
Defence ties between India and the United States have grown rapidly, with U.S. arms sales of more than $4 billion in 2012-15, mostly under government-to-government foreign military sales, upstaging long-term supplier Russia and even Israel.
Lockheed's executive director for international business development, Abhay Paranjape, said his team has met with representatives from 40 defence and aviation firms in India to help build the ancillary network for the aircraft assembly programme.
"We want to be prepared, that's why we started the ground work," he said, adding Lockheed has also scouted possible factory sites in India.
Lockheed has a joint venture with India's Tata Advanced Systems Ltd to make airframe components for the C-130J Super Hercules transport plane and the S-92 helicopter.
"The capability for building components exists here, it's been proven with the C-130s. The challenge now is to pick the right partners," Paranjape said.
US defence firm Lockheed Martin wants to push ahead with plans to move production of its F-16 combat jets to India, but understands President Donald Trump's administration may want to take a "fresh look" at the proposal.
With no more orders for the F-16 from the Pentagon, Lockheed plans to use its Fort Worth, Texas plant instead to produce the fifth generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that the United States Air Force is transitioning to.
Lockheed has said that moving F-16 assembly to India would create 200 engineering jobs in the United States to help support the production line in India.
It has also said that about 800 workers in the United States making the non-Lockheed parts for the F-16 would keep their jobs if construction shifts to India.
"We are offering to make the F-16 Block-70 aircraft with a local partner in India. This is an offer exclusive to India," Randall L. Howard, head of F-16 business development, told Reuters ahead of India's biggest air show beginning in Bengaluru next week.
In India, the F-16 is up against SAAB's Gripen combat aircraft, which the Swedish firm has also offered to make locally, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi drives a Make-in-India campaign to build a domestic aerospace industry and reduce costly imports.
The Indian government is expected to decide this year on which company will build a single-engine fighter plane, in collaboration with a local partner. A defence official said the process was at a very early stage.
The Indian air force alone needs 200-250 fighters over the next 10 years, its former chief Arup Raha said before he left office in December.
Defence ties between India and the United States have grown rapidly, with U.S. arms sales of more than $4 billion in 2012-15, mostly under government-to-government foreign military sales, upstaging long-term supplier Russia and even Israel.
Lockheed's executive director for international business development, Abhay Paranjape, said his team has met with representatives from 40 defence and aviation firms in India to help build the ancillary network for the aircraft assembly programme.
"We want to be prepared, that's why we started the ground work," he said, adding Lockheed has also scouted possible factory sites in India.
Lockheed has a joint venture with India's Tata Advanced Systems Ltd to make airframe components for the C-130J Super Hercules transport plane and the S-92 helicopter.
"The capability for building components exists here, it's been proven with the C-130s. The challenge now is to pick the right partners," Paranjape said.