Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructures (TLMA), which is a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Tata, will soon start making fighter wing parts in Hyderabad, India.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that Lockheed Martin and Tata Group signed calls for the production of 29 fighter wing shipsets, with the possibility of making more. Beginning in 2025, the goods will be sent out.
Chairman of Tata Sons N Chandrasekaran praised the TLMA team for making and qualifying the fighter wing despite the fact that the technology was hard. “I am sure that the plan to make fighter wings in India will help India’s aerospace and defence manufacturing ecosystem in a big way,” he said.
Lockheed Martin officially recognised TLMA as a possible co-producer of fighter wings in October 2021, after the company made and qualified a prototype fighter wing shipset.
James Taiclet, Chairman, President, and CEO of Lockheed Martin, said, “This MoU between Lockheed Martin and Tata Group shows Lockheed Martin’s commitment to an independent India and the level of trust we have in our relationships with our partners in India.” Lockheed Martin’s 21st Century Security vision is to provide integrated, mission-focused defence capabilities quickly and with innovation. As a result, we are one of the only aerospace companies in India that can build complex aerostructures for advanced fighters. Our motto is “For India, From India, For the World.” This strong partnership shows how we live up to that motto.
TLMA is the only private company in India that has shown it can make detailed parts and deliver a fully compliant, fuel-carrying, 9G (12,000 hours), 9 times the force of gravity, interchangeable/replaceable representative fighter wing.
The agreement between Lockheed Martin and Tata Group makes their relationship in India even stronger. Both companies will offer the F-21 to the Indian Air Force (IAF), which wants to buy 114 new fighter planes.
Lockheed Martin said in a release that the India F-21 is a strategic and economic opportunity for the United States and India that has never been seen before. It is also a catalyst for future cooperation in advanced technology.
Tata Advanced Systems and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics started TLMA as a joint venture in 2010. It is now a single global source supplier of parts for the C-130J empennage assemblies that are installed on all new Super Hercules aircraft. TLMA has made and sent out nearly 200 C-130J empennages so far.
