Washington: The United States aims to secure agreements with India to start pilot projects for joint production of drones as well as equipment for transport planes in talks next week ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama, a US industry source said on Wednesday. Frank Kendall, US 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 Defence Production G. Mohan Kumar and Scientific Advisor to the Minister of Defence 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 US-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 US firm. Raven is the world's most widely used unmanned aircraft, a lightweight plane that can be used manually, or for autonomous operations.
15/01/16 Reuters/Business Standard
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Kendall's spokeswoman Maureen Schumann said he will meet with Defense Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur, Secretary for Defence Production G. Mohan Kumar and Scientific Advisor to the Minister of Defence 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 US-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 US firm. Raven is the world's most widely used unmanned aircraft, a lightweight plane that can be used manually, or for autonomous operations.
15/01/16 Reuters/Business Standard
