In a landmark announcement, GE Aerospace on Thursday said that it had inked a pact with Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) to jointly produce fighter jet engines for Indian Air Force’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Mk-II – Tejas. 

The announcement came during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first State visit to the US at the invitation of US President Joe Biden. 

The agreement includes the potential joint production of GE Aerospace’s F414 engines in India, and GE Aerospace continues to work with the US government to receive the necessary export authorisation for this,” the US company said in a statement. 

It described the Memorandum of Understanding with HAL as a key element in strengthening defence cooperation between India and the US. 

This was a historic agreement made possible by our long-standing partnership with India and HAL, said H Lawrence Culp Jr, the chairman and chief executive officer of GE and CEO of GE Aerospace.