India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi approves Lockheed Martin’s ‘Make in India’ strategy

PM Modi met Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet, praising the company's commitment to 'Make in India, Make for the World'. The meeting highlights growing India-US defense cooperation, with Lockheed Martin contributing to India's military capabilities through various projects and technologies.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that he met recently with Jim Taiclet, CEO of Lockheed Martin, a global defence major, who has demonstrated a lot of spirit in make in India, make for the world initiative. The meeting underlines the enhancement of cooperation between India and the United States of America in the aerospace and defense industrial partners.

The Prime Minister’s Office cited this sector to identify Lockheed Martin as a key participant in this regard and thanked the company for its support in making India’s dream of becoming a production hub come true. The company has contributed to enhancing the fighting capability of India by providing sophisticated defence systems in the aerospace, naval, missile defence and strategic spheres.

An example of this is the joint venture between Lockheed Martin of USA which is in the aerospace industry and Tata Advanced Systems Limited TEL, an Indian company operating in Hyderabad. This plant has been manufacturing and supplying over 200 empennages for the C-130J airplane and is progressively integrating more components from regional sources.

Lockheed Martin’s helicopter cabins has lately been shifted from Japan to India in an attempt to localize its products. This change is as per the policy of the Indian government to make the country more or less reliant on imported arms and ammunition.

Lockheed Martin’s C-130J transport aircraft has also been used by the IAF and has reinforced Lockheed Martin’s standing in the Indian defence sector.

Also Read: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has highlighted job creation and infrastructure development in Mumbai recently

This meeting between PM Modi and Jim Taiclet takes place at the time when India is looking at developing its domestic defence manufacturing sector. This affiliation with Lockheed Martin is a step towards the achievement of this goal since it strengthens the bi-lateral relations between India and the United States.