Lockheed F-16s in India |
Lockheed Martin is in talks with the government of India to build the latest version of F-16 warplanes in India, a company official said . The firm has offered to move its only production line for the fighter jets from Fort Worth, Texas to India from where F-16s could be exported.Lockheed’s national executive (India) Abhay Paranjape, however, clarified that the establishing the production line in India was conditional on assured orders from Indian Air Force.Other aerospace biggies who have shown interest in building fighter jets in India are US firm Boeing, Sweden’s Saab, France’s Dassault Aviation and the Eurofighter Typhoon consortium.Lockheed’s current orders will keep the Fort Worth F-16 line running till late 2017 and the firm is eyeing another order that could extend its life till 2021. Lockheed Martin feels that building the planes in India would drive down the production cost and increase its demand worldwide. Lockheed officials were non committal on the kind of investment the firm planned to make in India.
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