US India sign historic F/A - 18 Super Hornet manufacturing deal in India

[Shahzaz ud din]

US India sign historic F/A - 18 Super Hornet manufacturing deal in India
13 Apr, 2018

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NEW DELHI - US Boeing on Thursday announced a partnership with PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Mahindra Defence Systems <link> (MDS) for manufacturing the F/A-18 Super Hornet <link> fighter jets in India .

The US aerospace major said the partnership will also work for joint development of future technologies in India , saying it will transform India 's aerospace and defence ecosystem.

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The Super Hornet 'Make in India ' proposal is to build an entirely new and state-of-the-art production facility that can be utilised for other programmes like India 's Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) programme, the company said in a statement.

"Boeing is excited to team up with India 's only company that manufactures combat fighters, HAL, and India 's only company that manufactures small commercial airplanes, Mahindra.

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"This partnership brings the best of Indian public and private enterprises together in partnership with the world's largest aerospace company, Boeing, to accelerate a contemporary 21st century ecosystem for aerospace & defence manufacturing in India ," said Pratyush Kumar, the president of Boeing India .

The announcement was made on the second day of the Defence Expo here.

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[Skull and Bones]

Given that IA or IN selects F-18 SH, which seems unlikely. So this agreement holds no value.

 

[Dante80]

The main thing to take from this is that vendors from around the world are scrambling to attain strategic partnerships with the big national defense industry players so as to hold an advantageous position on the coming competition.

India is (once again) hosting the single biggest fighter airplane procurement competition in the world. This is really a make or break point for many of the competitors, given the prize at hand.



ps: Given the potential shifts in Indian (and US!) foreign and military procurement policy, I wouldn't be so fast to rule out any competitor coming from the US.

 

[Papa Dragon]

No matter what, the new tender's specifications are designed to favor the Rafale and GoI is well aware of that fact that dealing with the US in the long run would be a pain in the a**. IAF is also hell bent on acquiring more Rafales and that is one contributing factor to discard the FGFA with Russia.