Not Just Assemble, Boeing Keen To 'Make In India' Super Hornet Fighters

New Delhi: Boeing wants to build a globally competitive industrial base in India and it is in "exploratory" talks to see if they can manufacture F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters in the country, the American aviation giant said today.

The company is not interested in just assembling the aircraft but making it completely under the 'Make in India' initiative, Boeing India President Pratyush Kumar said.

However for any such initiative the US and India's strategic convergence would be critical, he said.

"Offer is too strong a word. There is no such thing as an offer. There is an initial thinking. We want to create a globally competitive industrial base in India," Mr Kumar told Press Trust of India when asked about Boeing's reported offer to the Indian government to manufacture F/A-18 locally.

He said the company thinks that F/A 18 Super Hornet could be an important wedge to create that scale and get going on defence manufacturing on a very large scale.

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He said that Boeing has had various dialogues, exploratory discussions with different stakeholders.

"India with its deep and broad capability in engineering... we think it is a win-win proposition in the longer run. And that is why we are interested in this," Mr Kumar said.

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"At the end of the day, US and India strategic convergence is critical. None of that would be possible without government to government alignment. So that is all subject to government approval, both from US side and the Indian side," Mr Kumar said.