The Boeing Co. and Tata Industries Ltd. of India have agreed on a plan to form a joint-venture that will initially include more than $500 million of defense-related aerospace component work in India for export to Boeing and its international customers.
"It represents another step in our commitment to India, in this case by linking the capabilities and heritages of these two companies, in order to bring real and lasting value to India's aerospace industry, while making Boeing products more globally competitive," said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems.
Boeing and Tata will utilize existing Tata manufacturing capability and also develop new supply sources throughout the Indian manufacturing and engineering communities for both commercial and defense applications.
Manufacturing capabilities established within the joint-venture company would in later phases be leveraged across multiple Boeing programs, including the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft competition.
In the first phase of the agreement, Boeing would potentially issue contracts for work packages to the joint-venture company involving defense-related component manufacturing on Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet for the U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Air Force, CH-47 Chinook and/or P-8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft. A research and development center for advanced manufacturing technologies is also contemplated.
Boeing's history in India reaches back more than 60 years, marked by working with airline customers, parts suppliers, research institutes and others to provide products and services. In December 2003, Boeing established a wholly owned subsidiary, Boeing International Corp. India Private Ltd., to support the growing demands of India's aviation, aerospace and defense industries.
