WASHINGTON – US military contractor Lockheed Martin on Wednesday said itsoffer to build F-16 jets in India “stands firm”.

“We haven’t heard anything officially from the government and continue topursue opportunities to build F-16s under the Make in India framework,”said Vivek Lall, Lockheed vice-president (strategy and businessdevelopment).

India is preparing to launch a fresh hunt for fighter aircraft to sharpenthe combat edge of the Indian Air Force that is grappling with a shortageof warplanes, Hindustan Times had reported last week. However, there hasbeen no official announcement.

Lall refused to comment on whether the F-35 stealth fighter was beingoffered to India, saying it was “a government-to-government conversation.”He, however, said “technology improvements” would continue to flow betweenthe single-engine F-16 and F-35 at the fraction of the cost to F-16operators. He also said that almost half of the F-16 supply chain wascommon with the F-35.

Lockheed and Swedish firm Saab are the only two companies exploringopportunities to build F-16s and Gripens in India under the single-engineprogramme.

Making a renewed pitch for the F-16, Lall said the “exclusive production”of the planes in India represented a significant opportunity to furtherdefence diplomacy as 25 global air forces operated over 3,000 F-16 jets. Hesaid the production of F-16s could begin in India within three years of adeal.

“F-16 production opportunities currently total around 400 (Indianrequirement included) in central Europe, South America, Mediterranean andAsia,” he said. What if the government announces it will float a new globaltender or take the government-to-government route to buy new jets? “We willstill be in that competition. We are here for the long term,” Lall added.

The earlier plan was to pursue two separate projects under the Make inIndia initiative to build single-engine and twin-engine planes in thecountry. However, both these plans had nottaken off.