Boeing Plan To Participate in Make In India Initiative

New Delhi: On Friday, Boeing, Global aircraft manufacturing company, said it is looking at setting up a chopper assembly line in India.

According to a top official of Boeing, the assembly line will either be for the Apache combat helicopter or the Chinook heavy-lift chopper.

Boeing recently finalized a deal to sell 22 Apache combat helicopters and 15 Chinook CH-47F heavy-lift copters to India.

James McNerney, the Chairman of Boeing said at an event here, that the aircraft manufacturer was evaluating assembling one of these two helicopters in India.

Currently in a Nagpur facility, the beams, or the spine, of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft is being prepared.

The company said it has plans to participate in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make-in-India’ initiative.

“We can play at the centre of ‘Make-in-India’ keeping in line with Boeing’s global product strategy. We want design and make in India for India and the world. India is now better poised to make investments for us after the new government has come in,” McNerney said.

“Boeing sees a lot of opportunity and capability in India and wants to help it scale up its economy. India will give us business and we in turn will provide technology and ‘know-how’ by collaborating with the partners in the country including the government,” McNerney said.

The chairman of Boeing confronted that the reason behind having more business in India is the country was a natural ally.

“India is a big market and after the civil nuclear deal, the governments of both countries can now decide more levels of cooperation in the fields of defense and aerospace technology,” McNerney said.

Also in this regards, he appreciated Modi’s vision.

“Under the new leadership, the country is moving towards the manufacturing dream. The efforts of changing tax regime and working towards a speedy dispute resolution are some of the things that this government is working on and it is an encouraging feeling,” McNerney said.

McNerney answered to a question on aerospace manufacturing that the company was looking at developing skills in India by participating in the Skills India mission.

“Manufacturing is a closer reality in India than most people think. We will be soon evaluating making aircraft parts like wings and fuselage here,” he said.

He also confirmed that the country has plans to buy nearly 1,800 civil aircraft over the next 20 years, which would be a huge investment.

“Boeing sees this market as a civil aviation opportunity as conversion of only one percent of people travelling in trains to aviation can double the market size here. We are also looking at producing more fuel-efficient, green and longer-flying-capable planes to bring down the cost of flying to attract more customers,” McNerney said.

McNerney revealed that in the last fifty years, the company has not closed more defense deals with the whole of the US defense industry combined compared to India.

“Yes indeed! Boeing has closed more defense deals with India than the whole of the US combined in the last fifty years,” McNerney said.

When asked McNerney about close several deals with the government, he said the plan was to have a team in India. “The probable reason of our success is that we anticipated these deals will come and set up a team here rather than bringing the aircraft here first and the team later.”

“Also, the Indian military is organized, capable and they know what equipment they want… hence it is easier to work with them. The series of defense deals also shows the country’s commitment to keeping its borders safe, especially in the wake of shaky neighbors,” McNerney said.

The chairman confirmed that the company is now no more in the production of the heavy lift transport aircraft C-17 Globemaster.

The announcement comes at a time when the Indian government required three more Globemaster planes. The Boeing C-17 Globemaster is a large military transport aircraft.

“We have only one C-17 with us. Of course, there are buying opportunities in the used market and the model will stay in the market for another 20 to 30 years,” the chairman said.

The Indian government and Boeing had entered into a purchase agreement for 10 C-17 Globemaster aircraft with an alternative to buy six more. The deal was estimated at $4.1 billion.

Currently, the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Globemaster fleet is based out of Hindon Air Force Station near the national capital. The fleet is operated for strategic airlift assignments by the ‘Skylords’ squadron.

United States has the largest fleet of Globemaster aircraft (over 220) followed by India which has only 10 C-17s.