NEW DELHI, DEC.12, 2015: American aerospace major Boeing Company has offered to shift its F/A-18 Super Hornet combat plane assembly line to India if given an assurance that 200 of these jets would be ordered for the Indian armed forces, Arming India has learnt from informed sources.
This is part of the American initiative to dramatically ramp up defense ties with India, a proposal that came up for discussion between Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar and U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Dec. 10 at the Pentagon.
The offer is significant in the context of the Indian Air Force (IAF) assertion that the requirement for 126 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft stands despite the direct acquisition of 36 Rafale jets from France, announced in April 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Paris.
F/A-18 Super Hornet was one of the losing five combat planes in the 2007 context that was effectively shelved earlier this year following the announcement on the 36 Rafales deal.
IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha has publicly emphasized the continued requirement of an "affordable fighter of the MMRCA class".
The Indian Navy too is expected to have a requirement for 50 to 60 fighter aircraft in the context of the second Indigenous Aircraft Carrier program that India has decided to pursue and which is likely to become a reality around the year 2025.
Boeing Company's Chairman James McNerney, who was in India on Oct. 16 to attend a company-organised aviation summit, had first made the announcement on the firm's offer to build the F/A-18 in India.
An offer similar to Boeing's was made by Lockheed Martin for the F-16 during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the U.S. last September. The Lockheed Martin boss was the only CEO from the American defence industry to have a one-on-one meeting with Modi during that visit.
A competing offer to India on manufacturing a contemporary combat plane in India has also been made by Sweden in the case of Saab's Gripen NG, another contestant in the terminated MMRCA tender.
Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar is said to have confirmed the Boeing Company and Lockheed Martin offers during his just concluded U.S. visit. "They (the US) are very positive on that," Parrikar was quoted as saying during his stay in the U.S.
The U.S., on its part, is said to have indicated that "pre-approvals" could be considered on such proposals, suggesting that the regulatory framework won't be an obstacle.
In another significant move, 17 new proposals have been put on the table to scale up the India-U.S. Defense Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI). Eleven of these proposals have been mooted by the U.S., while India has proposed six. The two sides have concluded two of the six India had suggested and are fast working towards concluding two more, Parrikar said at a joint media interaction with Carter.
"We have identified many new areas for cooperative research and development, and both sides are committed to continue to exchange ideas in the search for additional projects for possible co-development and co-production that meet the spirit of DTTI," confirmed Frank Kendall, the U.S. Under Secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, according to agency reports.
On Dec. 11, the two sides issued a joint statement, even as Parrikar concluded his week-long U.S. visit when he was shown around the Hawaii-based Pacific Command and also went on board the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) aircraft carrier to watch the carrier-borne flight operations.
Here are the key take-aways from the joint statement and media interaction of Parrikar and Carter at the Pentagon:
* The two sides committed to identifying additional projects for possible co-development and co-production of high technology items that meet the transformational intent of DTTI. There have been positive discussions at the Joint Working Group on Aircraft Carrier Technology Cooperation (JWGACTC), especially in the area of Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment (ALRE). The second meeting of the JWGACTC will be held in February 2016 in India. The Jet Engine Technology Joint Working Group (JETJWG), which met in Bengaluru in the week Parrikar was in U.S., concluded its Terms of Reference and had productive discussion on cooperation in this area.
* Carter informed Parrikar that in light of the strengthening relationship between the U.S. and India, the DoD has updated its policy on gas turbine engine technology transfer to India. As a result of this policy update, he is confident that the U.S will be able to expand cooperation in production and design of jet engine components. The two sides are looking forward to U.S. companies working with their Indian counterparts to submit transfer requests that will benefit from this updated policy.
* Carter welcomed India's participation in the Rim-of-the-Pacific (RIMPAC) multilateral naval exercise in 2016 as well as participation by the Indian Air Force in the multilateral Red Flag exercise in April-May 2016, and expressed support for greater Air-to-Air interaction in the future. Parrikar welcomed announcement of US participation in the International Fleet Review of the Indian Navy at Visakhapatnam in February 2016. The two sides announced their intent to soon complete a memorandum of understanding between their navies on "white shipping" information sharing. They also welcomed the renewal of the Fuel Exchange Agreement.
* Carter said U.S. sees a handshake of two complementary initiatives between the two nations: India's Make in India policy, and the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative; and also India's Act East policy, and American's rebalance to the Asia-Pacific. Carter said the Indo-Asia-Pacific is one of the most consequential parts of the world for America's future. And the U.S. welcomes India's rise as a security partner in the region - a region where half of humanity lives, and half of the world's economic activity takes place. The U.S.-India defense partnership will become an anchor of global security.
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