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 Frank Kendall, U.S. undersecretary of defense for acquisition,
technology and logistics, will be making his fourth visit to India
to promote collaboration on defense technologies and co-production
of weapons systems in an effort to finalize the projects.
Kendall's spokeswoman Maureen Schumann said he will meet with
Defense Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur, Secretary for Defense
Production G. Mohan Kumar and Scientific Advisor to the Minister of
Defense Avinash Chander.
"His primary objective is to continue momentum on the Defense Trade
and Technology Initiative (DTTI), which promotes collaboration on
defense technology and enables co-production and co-development of
critical defense systems," Schumann said.
An industry source familiar with U.S.-India discussions on the
defense initiative said Kendall aimed to finalize two pilot
projects, one involving unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and the
other involving systems for the C-130 military transport aircraft
built by Lockheed Martin Corp.
The source said the drone project involved the RQ-11 "Raven" built
by AeroVironment Inc, a small U.S. firm. Raven is the world's most
widely used unmanned aircraft, a lightweight plane that can be used
manually, or for autonomous operations.
The U.S. government strictly controls foreign sales of larger UAVs,
but has approved sales of unarmed systems like the Raven, which are
used purely for surveillance to a range of countries, including
Uzbekistan, according to a U.S. source.
The transport plane project involves manufacturing of roll-on,
roll-off modules that allow C-130s to be used for surveillance, and
as VIP transports or hospitals, according to the industry source,
who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the
discussions.
U.S. and Indian officials have declined to comment publicly on the
systems under discussion, but the industry source said the aim was
to announce the pilot projects during Obama's planned visit to India
to attend the country's Jan. 26 Republic Day holiday, which is
marked by a big military parade.
Lockheed declined comment on any specific co-production agreement,
but a spokesman said teams from five Indian universities were
participating in a design challenge to develop C-130 modules for use
in disaster relief around the world.
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India has received five C-130Js built by Lockheed, and six more
planes are on order through 2017, parts of which will be built in
India.
No comment was immediately available from AeroVironment.
The United States is keen to develop its political and strategic
ties with India, with which it shares concerns about China's
increasingly assertive territorial claims in the Asia-Pacific
region.
Since the DTTI was launched in 2012, the United States has proposed
17 projects with potential for collaboration. But the initiative has
been hampered by concerns from India that the projects do not
sufficiently involve the transfer of technology.
On the U.S. side, meanwhile, there have been concerns about India's
demand for the right to manufacture components rather than whole
systems, which could put them in competition with U.S.
manufacturers.
Ellen Lord, president and chief executive officer of Textron
Systems, an aerospace unit of defence firm Textron Inc, which makes
Bell helicopters and UAVs, told Reuters she was encouraged by
reforms being undertaken by the Indian government.
"I'm energized by what I see as very positive changes," said Lord,
who returned on Tuesday from a visit to India.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; editing by Andrew Hay)
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