From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Apr 12: In a major tie-up in the domestic aircraft manufacturing sector, strategic public sector undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has announced a partnership with Boeing and Mahindra Defence Systems (MDS) for manufacturing the F/A-18 Super Hornet in India.
The new partnership is aimed at pursuing joint development of future technologies in the country.
The partnership will transform India’s aerospace and defence ecosystem, further building on its ‘Make in India’ success, said HAL CMD T Suvarna Raju in Bengaluru on Thursdayu.
“HAL has always been at the forefront of development in India’s aerospace sector. This partnership with Boeing and Mahindra Defence Systems will create an opportunity to develop capabilities of the aerospace industry and strengthen indigenous platforms in India thereby contributing to the Make-in-India activities,’’ Raju said.
“Boeing is happy to team up with HAL, India’s leading company that manufactures combat fighters along with India’s company that manufactures small commercial airplanes, Mahindra.,’’ said Pratyush Kumar, President, Boeing India.
He said: ``This partnership brings the best of Indian public and private enterprises together with the world’s largest aerospace company, Boeing, to accelerate a contemporary 21st century ecosystem for aerospace & defense manufacturing in India.’’
Future production with Indian partners will involve maximizing indigenous content and producing the F/A-18 in India thereby creating a 21st century aerospace ecosystem.
S. P. Shukla, Group President, Aerospace & Defence Sector and Chairman, Mahindra Defence Systems, said: ``We are excited about the opportunities that this partnership will provide for us to contribute further to ‘Make in India’ for defence.’’
The Super Hornet Make in India proposal is to build an entirely new and state-of-the-art production facility that can be utilized for other programs like India’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) program.
This partnership is intended to bring HAL, Boeing and MDS global scale and supply chain, its best-in-industry precision manufacturing processes as well as the unrivalled experience designing and optimizing aerospace production facilities to both expand India’s aerospace ecosystem and help realize the Make in India vision.
The plan addresses the infrastructure, personnel training and operational tools and techniques required to produce a next generation fighter aircraft in India. In addition, Boeing will work closely with India industry to ensure they have the very latest technologies, applying lessons learned from the current Super Hornet production line, said an official press release from HAL.