Boeing CEO calls on Modi ahead of big-ticket military aircraft procurement programmes

Vishal Thapar May 07, 2022

Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on May 6 to explore wider partnership and participation in India’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) agenda.

The Boeing leadership is understood to have discussed investment in the GIFT City in Gujarat and support for India’s leasing industry.

GIFT City is being developed as a global financial service and IT hub. It is located on the banks of the Sabarmati connecting the Business capital (Ahmedabad) and Political capital (Gandhinagar) of Gujarat, the Prime Minister’s home state. It is being positioned as the new “Financial & Technology Gateway of India for the World”.

Gujarat is drawing the attention of big global business as an investment destination. Recently, the first stop of the visiting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was also Gujarat.

BW Businessworld and BW Defence was the first to report recently that Airbus is partnership with Tata will be setting up an aircraft assembly line at Dholera in Gujarat. This will be India’s first full spectrum aircraft manufacturing facility in the private sector. Forty C-295 military transport aircraft will be manufactured here.

Boeing boss Calhoun highlighted “our continuing efforts to strengthen India's growing aerospace and defense industry through our investments in engineering, manufacturing and research, and the work to improve skills and grow our supplier-partner network across India and on a global scale”.

In his meeting with the Prime Minister, Calhoun was accompanied by Sir Michael Arthur, President Boeing International and a former British High Commissioner to India. Boeing’s India head Salil Gupte was also present at the meeting.

“An honor to discuss #TeamBoeing’s commitment to India! Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun met with India’s Honourable Prime Minister @narendramodi to discuss our commitment to his #AatmanirbharBharat vision,” the Boeing Company stated on social media.

Calhoun and his top associates also met with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. He discussed “#TeamBoeing’s growing presence in India, the nation’s innovative policy framework, and how Boeing can support the growth of India’s leasing industry at GIFT City”.

Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company, appears to be positioning itself as the first mover in India’s emerging aircraft leasing business. India is amongst the world’s largest and fastest growing civil aviation markets.

The iconic American company has also supplied major military platforms to India, including the C-17 Globemaster airlifter, the game-changing P8I maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft and the iconic Chinook and Apache helicopters.

Boeing is also among the leading contenders for fulfilling the Indian requirement for 114 foreign-developed Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft and 26 Deck-borne fighters. The company’s F/A-18 Super Hornet is set to be evaluated for Indian Navy requirements in Goa this month.

It is among the first big global OEMs to forge partnerships with Indian industry to align itself with the Make in India agenda and the increasing emphasis on self-reliance.

Boeing has set up a technology centre at Bengaluru – the Boeing India Engineering & Technology Center. It is also scaling up MRO facilities in India for its aircraft fleets, both civil and military, in partnership with Indian companies.

It has also set up joint ventures with Indian leaders like Tata for supplying structural parts of aircraft, thus making Indian companies a part of its global supply chain. Parts of the fuselage of the Apache and Chinook helicopters are also made in India.