GE Seeks US Nod For Joint Jet Engine Production In India

US aircraft engine maker GE has sought approval from Biden Administration for joint production of jet engines in India, according to the White House.

The White House has said that the US government is committed to an "expeditious review " of GE's application.

India and US are developing a new bilateral Defense Industrial Cooperation roadmap to accelerate technological cooperation between both countries for the joint development and production, with an initial focus on exploring projects related to jet engines, munition related technologies, and other systems, the White House said in a factsheet.

The factsheet noted that the United States has received an application from General Electric to "jointly produce jet engines that could power jet aircraft operated and produced indigenously by India". 

"The United States commits to an expeditious review of this application," it said.

On Tuesday (31 January), India's National Security Advisory Ajit Doval and his US counterpart Jake Sullivan led the inaugural meeting of the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) in Washington DC.  

During the meeting, the two sides discussed opportunities for greater cooperation in critical and emerging technologies, co-development and coproduction, and ways to deepen connectivity across the innovation ecosystems.

In the factsheet, the White House said that to expand and deepen India-US technology partnership, both the countries are launching new bilateral initiatives and welcoming new cooperation between the governments, industry and academia in multiple domains, including defence innovation and technology cooperation.

The two sides will work on enhancing long-term research and development cooperation, with a focus on identifying maritime security and intelligence surveillance reconnaissance (ISR) operational use cases, it said.

Both the countries will also enhance bilateral collaboration on resilient semiconductor supply chains; supporting the development of a semiconductor design, manufacturing, and fabrication ecosystem in India.

Further, leveraging the complementary strengths, both countries also intend to promote the development of a skilled workforce that will support global semiconductor supply chains and encourage the development of joint ventures and technology partnerships on mature technology nodes and packaging in India.