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Wings for F-16 to be made by Tata-Lockheed Martin JV in India
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IANS | 11 Mar, 2023
Global defence aerospace player Lockheed Martin and Indias Tata Group
have inked an agreement for the production of fighter plane wings at
their joint venture Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructures Ltd (TLMAL) in
Hyderabad.
According to Lockheed Martin, the Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) envisions production of 29 fighter wing shipsets,
with an option of additional shipsets, with deliveries commencing in
2025.
"These wings are initially intended for the F-16 Block
70/72 jets and would be delivered to our US facility in Greenville,
South Carolina, for inclusion into the production/final assembly line.
However, the transfer of technology and manufacturing rigor that
Lockheed Martin and Tata have demonstrated will transfer to the F-21
if/when selected by the Indian Air Force. We are proposing the F-21 for
India and these would be produced in India," a Lockheed Martin official
told IANS.
Lockheed Martin formally recognised TLMAL as a
potential co-producer of fighter wings in October 2021 after the
latter's successful production and qualification of a prototype fighter
wing shipset.
Through this prototype project, TLMAL was required
to demonstrate the capability to perform detailed part manufacturing and
delivery of a fully-compliant fuel-carrying 9-g, 12,000 hour,
interchangeable/replaceable representative fighter wing, Lockheed Martin
said on Friday.
"That achievement further strengthened Lockheed
Martin's partnership with India, and supports its F-21 offering for
procurement of 114 new fighter aircraft exclusively for India and the
Indian Air Force by proving additional indigenous production capability.
The India F-21 represents an unprecedented strategic and economic
opportunity for the US-India relationship and represents a catalyst to
future advanced technology cooperation," Lockheed Martin said.
According
to the Lockheed Martin official, the F-21 would serve as a force
multiplier for the Indian Air Force with an unmatched capability-to-cost
ratio compared to the competition.
"In addition, the F-21 is
equipped with state-of-the-art systems and sensors that would allow the
Indian Air Force to detect, track and engage multiple targets in a
contested environment. The current and future state of warfare is and
will be centered on gathering and sharing information across multiple
domains (air, land, sea, space and cyber) to make effective decisions as
quickly as possible. The F-21 will be able to integrate across these
domains and across Indian services to provide current and future
relevance," the official added.
The F-21 will leverage advanced
technologies from across the Lockheed Martin fighter portfolio. It is a
single engine, low life cycle cost platform with an optimal max take-off
weight right in between the Rafale and Tejas.
"Our F-21 offer is
also 'Make in India' which addresses the goals of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'
while providing India with an improved security cooperation
relationship with the United States," ythe official said.
Also,
the F-21's industrial offering will put India at the epicentre of the
world's largest fighter production and sustainment market, creating
thousands of highly-skilled jobs in India, the official added.
Tata Advanced Systems Limited and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics had established TLMAL as a joint venture in 2010.
TLMAL
serves as the single global source of C-130J empennage assemblies that
are installed on all new Super Hercules aircraft. To date, TLMAL has
manufactured and delivered nearly 200 C-130J empennages.
"I am
proud of Tata Group's partnership with Lockheed Martin on this
prestigious project. I would like to congratulate the TLMAL team for
successfully industrialising and qualifying the fighter wing in spite of
the technological complexity involved. I am confident the initiative of
manufacturing fighter wings in India will go a long way in
strengthening the aerospace and defence manufacturing ecosystem in
India," said N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd.
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