Lockheed sees potential exports of 200 F-16 jets from proposed Indian plant

NEW DELHI: Lockheed Martin envisions a potential export market of over $ 20 billion for his F-16 fighter jet from an badembly line in India that he has proposed to set up in order to win a major Indian military order, a senior executive told me.

The US defense firm competes with Boeing's F / A-18, Saab's Gripen, the Dbadault Aviation Rafale, the Eurofighter Typhoon and a Russian aircraft to supply 114 fighter jets in the United States. Indian Air Force as part of an estimated transaction worth more than $ 15 billion.

Lockheed Martin proposed to move his F-16 production line from the United States to India, which could give a boost to the "Make-in-India" project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi , which aims to create an industrial base for defense and to create jobs for the group. thousands of young people entering the job market each month.

Vivek Lall, vice president of strategy and business development at Lockheed, told Reuters that the company would make India the only global F-16 production center serving the needs of the world. Indian army but also markets overseas.

"We expect the current demand outside of India to reach over 200 aircraft.The value of these initial acquisition programs would likely exceed $ 20 billion," Lall said. .

Bahrain and Slovakia chose the proposed F-16 Block 70 in India, he said. "We are in discussion with Bulgaria, several other countries and ten countries, there is a kind of rebirth of the F-16."

The Department of Defense is expected to issue a statement of interest in the coming months, followed by a Request for Proposal as part of a long and arduous process for the Air Force Contract .

The Indian Army has said it wants 42 jet squadrons, about 750 aircraft, to defend against a two-pronged attack by China and Pakistan. But with old Russian jet planes like the MiG-21, first used in the 1960s and soon to be retiring, there could be only 22 squadrons left by 2032, officials said.

Lall said the F-16 factory relocation project, which was originally in Fort Worth, Texas, will not compromise the President of the States' goal United States, Donald Trump, to resettle the manufacturing sector in the United States.

The Texas plant is used to produce the fifth-generation F-35 Combat Fighter to which the US Air Force is currently operating.

Lall said that there would remain work in the United States even though the production of the F-16 was being transferred to India and that Make in India and Trump's Make America Great Again were not contradictory.

"I think they're complementary.The United States has a certain amount of engineering and strength that will last as long as the product will be there, that will continue even when the production will be transferred. "

Lockheed chose Tata Advanced Systems as an Indian partner for the proposed F-16 plant, and last year announced that its joint venture would produce wings for the Indian aircraft, whether or not it gets the Indian military command.