Chennai April 12 (IANS) Aerospace major Boeing on Thursday announced a partnership with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Mahindra Defence Systems (MDS) to manufacture its carrier and land based F/A-18 Super Hornet multi-role fighter aircraft in India.
According to the firm the future production with Indian partners will involve maximising indigenous content and producing the F/A-18 in India for its armed forces.
"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 " Pratyush Kumar President Boeing India was quoted as saying in a statement.
"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 and defence manufacturing in India " he added.
The aerospace major said 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 programs like India s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) program.
"This partnership is intended to bring Boeing HAL and MDS global scale and supply chain its best-in-industry precision manufacturing processes as well as the unrivaled experience designing and optimising aerospace production facilities to both expand India s aerospace ecosystem and help realise the Make in India vision " the company said in a statement.
The firm pointed out that the plan addresses the infrastructure personnel training and operational tools and techniques required to produce a next-gen fighter aircraft in the country.
"As the most advanced and least expensive aircraft per flight hour of its kind the F/A-18 Super Hornet will deliver on India s need for a carrier and land based multi-role fighter " the statement said.
"The Super Hornet does not only have a low acquisition cost but it costs less per flight hour to operate than any other tactical aircraft in US forces inventory."
The aerspace major noted that the F/A-18 Super Hornet has a long life ahead with the US Navy making significant investments in the latest evolution the Block III.
--IANS
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