The aerospace major looking to expand partnership beyond products and services

Aerospace major Boeing is expanding its partnership beyond products and services to build a diverse talent pool, a top executive of the company said here on Thursday.

“We are working with customers, suppliers and Indian universities to make sure we are getting the best of people in the best roles,” Leanne Caret, president and CEO of Boeing Defence, Space and Security, said at the inauguration of TATA Boeing Aerospace Ltd (TBAL) plant that would make fuselages for AH-64 Apache helicopters.

She said this to highlight Boeing’s growing engagement in the country. “We have quadrupled our sourcing from India in the past two years to more than $1 billion,” she said, adding it has invested “tremendously as the future here is extremely bright”.

The new facility, for which Boeing and TATA had announced partnership in November 2015, would help the company meet commitments to its customers with greater speed and agility.

Declaring that there could not have been a better partner than TATA, Ms. Caret said the Group has a strong track record with Boeing’s programmes such as the P-8I and the 787.

“TBAL is just the beginning of Boeing’s future journey of partnership with India. We see this as a major step towards future opportunities to pursue the co-development of integrated systems in aerospace and defence,” Boeing India president Pratyush Kumar said.

A release said more than 2,300 Boeing-made Apache helicopters are operated around the world. The U.S. Army Apache fleet alone has accumulated more than 4.3 million flight hours, including more than 1.2 million in combat as of January 2018.

In India, the company has developed a supplier base that is integrated into Boeing’s global supply chain.

The Defence Ministry has finalised an order with Boeing for 22 AH-64E Apache helicopters in September 2015, deliveries for which are scheduled to begin in 2019.

TATA Sons president (Infrastructure, Defence and Aerospace) Banmali Agrawala said with the streamlining of the export regulation process under the Strategy for Defence Exports of the Centre, TATA is poised to emerge a supplier of choice for global OEMs.