Lockheed Martin, set up shop in India in 2008 and has won bids from the Air Force and the Navy. During a recent visit to Bengaluru, Phil Shaw, Chief Executive of Lockheed Martin India Pvt. Ltd. spoke about the company’s plans.
Edited excerpts :
How has been Lockheed Martin's journey in India so far?
We are very pleased with our experience in India in the last ten years. We have got a very successful transport aircraft, the C-130 J Hercules, to service the Air Force. Six are in service and six more on order. As part of the Boeing Apache attack helicopter , we provide a large part of the machine capability to its fire control and weapon systems.
Our joint venture with Tata Advanced Systems Ltd has been making both for the C-130 aricraft and the helicopters for the last six or seven years in Hyderabad. Now that we [the parent company] have acquired Sikorsky, we also make for its helicopters and have essentially doubled our footprint in India. The Hyderabad facility is our sole supplier worldwide of the C-130J tail and the S-92B helicopter cabins. Every C130 aircraft or S-92 helicopter that we sell around the world has this component manufactured in India.
Recently the government revised the foreign direct investment norms . The talk in this context is that Lockheed will bring its F-16 fighter production unit to India. Do you concur?
The offer of F-16s has been made by the U.S. government to the Government of India. We are certainly very excited by the offer and very supportive of it. We would look to bring a lot of manufacturing capability into India if selected. We think it is a very strong `make in India' story to bring a production line such as F-16 with all that entails the ecosystem that will build around it.
When would it happen if it came through?
It really is a government-to-government discussions. I am not in a position to say anything about it.
Are joint ventures your strategy? Who are you in discussions with?
We are typically trying to partner a local company as it gives us confidence to do a lot more in India. But all of our activity won't be with one company. We are always talking with many public and private sector industries on various programmes and capabilities. I wouldn't name any particular company or sector.
What has been your investment here so far, including the Tata venture? What would it be in future? How does the revised norm on 100 per cent FDI make a difference to your plans here?
We do not typically provide that. What I can tell you is, as a result of the investments we have made, there are about 1,000 trained and highly skilled aeronautical engineers in Hyderabad who are of a [desirably productive] average age of 24 years. And beyond that there are people who provide and support that industry. And we would love to do a lot more.
On the FDI question, I am not allowed to comment. Just that coupled with the ease of doing business it is helpful to future investments. But I wouldn’t say if it has affected something here and now. As for future investments, Lockheed would look at each case on its merit before deciding how much investment is required to satisfy the business plans.
Do you plan to increase the number of recruits?
It would most definitely increase if we are successful with some of these programmes.
Would you expand beyond Hyderabad? At aerospace city Bengaluru, for instance, where large public sector defence companies are present?
We wouldn't be concentrated in one spot. Here too, as in the U.S., we would be keen to see investments in multiple states as projects develop. That would also depend on our partner.
We are looking at other states that are developing aerospace and defence policies and which wish to attract A&D companies; and at the infrastructure there.
And there are some areas outside of the military, such as cyber security, renewable energy and smart cities
Obviously we are in discussions with HAL [Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd], too, as one aeronautical company with another.
Which specific projects and opportunities are you looking at here?
With C130, hopefully there are some future possibilities. A good opportunity is with helicopters on the military and security side. The Indian Navy's Multi-Role Helicopter (MRH) programme has multiple platforms. The Navy has selected the S-70B Sea Hawks for anti-submarine warfare. [Pending the ongoing cost negotiations] we hope to close the offer in a few months. We hope to supply 16 of these to the Navy with an option for eight more to replace the older Sea Kings.
There could be a future Navy MRH programme for additional anti-submarine and utility helicopters.The civil side is probably underdeveloped with a potential to grow.
We are very keen to support that with Sikorsky helicopters that are partly built here. We are talking with the Navy for Aegis air-to-air defence system; with the BSF for the Hellfire missile system that comes with the Apache helicopters;
On the land side, the Javelin anti-tank guided missile is offered through the Defence Trade & Technology Initiative between the two governments for co-development and co-production with Indian industry.
We have collaborated with Ashok Leyland for the design of a [Army] vehicle technology. We have partnered with VEM Technologies in Hyderabad on the vehicle or ship-mounted Gyros combat systems. Some of it can be co-produced here at some point.
