New Delhi: Lockheed Martin Corporation, American aerospace and defence major, will provide India with latest combat jet technologies, including a target tracking device aboard the F-16 aircraft that it plans to sell to the country.
The global defence giant will offer jets equipped with the advanced radar which is fitted on its fifth-generation combat jet, the F-35, as well as a helmet-mounted tracking system and a new radio data link system, Vivek Lall, vice president for strategy and business development at Lockheed Martin said Wednesday, reported Bloomberg.
The bid also comes with an offer to shift its lone production line for F-16s from Fort Worth, Texas in the U.S. to India as it takes on competitors Saab AB and Boeing Co. The variant being pitched is the F-16 Block 70.
“There are a lot of technologies that come into the F-16 from F-35 and F-22, including the latest radar on these platforms,” Lall said in an interview. “It is a contemporary, state-of-the-art platform.”
Early this month, India began the process to acquire a fleet of around 110 fighter jets in one of the biggest such procurements in recent years globally which could be worth over USD 15 billion.
Lockheed Martin has positioned the newest Block 70 variant of its F-16 aircraft for the Indian Air Force,
In the report, 'India's Quest for Fighter Jets: Make in India vs Make America Great Again', it said China's bellicose incursions in the Indo-Pacific region are challenging US geostrategic supremacy in the region.
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