In both cases, the aviation companies would be building production facilities in India; Lockheed Martin proposes to move its entire F-16 assembly line from Texas to India, making India the sole producer of the single-engine combat aircraft.
The U.S. military is phasing out the F-16 for its own use, but other countries remain as likely customers.
.. Analysts say Lockheed’s main rival in the single-engine sphere is Sweden’s Saab Group and its Gripen fighter. Chicago-based Boeing has also proposed to make its twin engine F/A-18 in India.
.. Lockheed has promised that India would not only manufacture and export its jets but would play a “critical role” in supporting a fleet of about 3,200 F-16s in operation around the world
.. Another strike against it, for some, is that it is the fighter aircraft used by archrival Pakistan.
.. A greater concern, said Pushan Das, a fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in Delhi, is whether “India wants to be seen as close to the United States and building U.S. fighter aircraft, or does it want to be more politically neutral and choose a partner like Sweden, given the fact that New Delhi needs to manage its relationship with Russia and China.