Defence firm Bharat Forge Ltd on Wednesday, June 21, said manufacturing of GE-F414 engines and high-altitude drones by General Atomics will open up a new technology that was closed to India. The US administration had approved a deal between General Electric and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to co-manufacture F414 jet engines in India.

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Also, India had approved the procurement of 30 MQ-9B Predator armed drones from the US under a government-to-government framework.

Speaking exclusively to CNBC-TV18, Baba Kalyani, Bharat Forge Chairman And Managing Director, said the ‘Atmanirbhar’ process that Prime Minister Modi has unleashed in India will create fantastic opportunities for India's industry.

He said the historic state visit of PM Modi to the US, pre-discussions that were held in India during the CEO Forum in March, ICET meeting that happened a few weeks ago, have completely opened up a new orbit for Indian business and industry, with Washington D.C.

"When you are talking about jet engines for fighter jets, normally there is something like 300-350 different technologies that are used in making jet engines. Important among them are single crystal blades, and high technology forgings that are required in a jet engine. We hope to be a part of that," Kalyani said.

He noted that the jet engines deal is going to be a large space for industry to participate in this programme as one company alone can't do everything by itself. “So I think there will be a huge opportunity and huge horizontal deployment of these technologies as the technology comes into India through this transfer of jet engine technology to HAL,” he said.

In January this year, San Diego-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI), a subsidiary of General Atomics, announced a partnership with Bharat Forge to manufacture main landing gear components, subassemblies, and assemblies of remotely piloted aircraft in the country.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:Jun 21, 2023 8:14 PM IST