India’s Times Now reported that New Delhi was also involved in planning initiatives to support the nation’s defence manufacturing industry. If a deal is reached, it will be a huge turning point for India’s defence and aerospace industries.
Regarding Lockheed Martin, the company has been promoting the SR-76 Sikorsky helicopter all over the world.
It will be a boost for India’s ‘Make in India, for the World’ initiative, which has been persistently promoted by the upper echelons of the Narendra Modi government, if an Indian defence firm begins building the helicopter.
The two parties will eventually need to determine how many helicopters will be produced in India and the associated expenses, even though the negotiations are apparently in their very early stages. If such a contract is successful, it is predicted that a large amount of indigenous material will assist smaller component makers.
The discussions between Lockheed Martin and TATA over the SR-76 Sikorsky are also significant because they take place only a few days after Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) and Airbus announced their partnership to produce 40 Airbus C295 military transport planes in India.
After Tata-Airbus starts manufacturing military transport aircraft, which is estimated to happen by 2026, India’s reliance on defence imports will significantly reduce. The production of the “Made in India” aircraft will be done between 2026 and 2031 when approximately 96% of the work has been finished in the Indian facility.
One defence firm that has grown significantly is TATA, which has strong linkages to international defence producers and a wide reach. TATA already collaborates with Lockheed Martin and is a participant in a few production projects with the industrial behemoth.
If the Sikorsky agreement is signed, it will significantly strengthen India’s main programme of defence self-reliance and broaden New Delhi’s alternatives in the face of constrained and blocked Russian military imports as a result of the current conflict and supply chain-related concerns.
On its part, the United States has argued that India should lessen its military reliance on Moscow. Intriguingly, the Lockheed Martin Sikorsky S92 helicopter had participated in tests for India’s heavy-lift helicopter need but had not submitted a formal bid to the competition, despite the fact that the aircraft under discussion is the SR-76.
Make-In-India programme Riding a Pushcart on TATA’s Back
TATA currently manufactures components for the C-130 cargo plane and the F-16 fighter plane’s wings.
The C-130J Super Hercules is the first significant military deal between the US and India in more than 40 years and is Lockheed Martin’s second-largest programme in that country. Key aero structural components of every C-130J delivered to customers worldwide were made in India.
Lockheed Martin relies on Tata Sikorsky Aerospace Ltd. (TSAL), a joint venture business between Lockheed’s subsidiary Sikorsky and TATA with headquarters in Hyderabad, India, for the provision of cabin aerostructures for the S-92 helicopter on a global scale.
Since production began in 2010, TSAL has sent 154 cabins to Sikorsky’s S-92 assembly plant in the US. Currently, each S-92 cabin is made up of more than 5,000 precise parts, all of which are produced exclusively by TSAL in India.
Lockheed Martin has been promoting its F-21 fighter jets to the Indian Air Force in addition to the Sirosky helicopters.
Lockheed had asserted last year that the F-21 fighters will not be sold to any other nations if the IAF made an order for 114 jets valued at around $18 billion under the MMRCA 2.0 and pledged to set up a maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility in the nation.
Late last year, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and chief executive, William Blair, repositioned the F-21 fighter jet and said the company was in a perfect position to collaborate with Indian players in fields like unmanned platforms, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and machine learning.
With a dual danger on two of its borders, India’s enormous capital investment in military has attracted a wide range of businesses. To participate in India’s defence production, other countries are rushing up to partner with the country’s burgeoning homegrown businesses.
As part of India’s defence offset policy, international businesses are required to work with local suppliers on defence manufacture, research, design, and production. Early collaborations also assist businesses in winning contracts since they are more operationally efficient and aware of the smallest of process intricacies.
