Boeing has faced severe pressure after its 737 MAX airliner fleet was grounded between March 2019 and December 2020 after two air crashes killed 346 persons
By Vikas Gupta
Defence News of India, 14 Aug 24
US aerospace giant, The Boeing Company (Boeing) announced its partnership on Tuesday with Indian firm AI Engineering Services Limited (AIESL), to develop local maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) capabilities for the Indian Navy’s fleet of Boeing P-8I maritime surveillance aircraft.
The partnership will provide in-country overhaul services of critical components for the fleet of twelve P-8I Poseidon Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance Anti-Submarine Warfare (LRMR ASW) aircraft.
As part of the partnership, the first landing gear overhaul of a P-8I aircraft was recently completed at INS Rajali.
“This is a first in India and reflects the growth in India’s indigenous capabilities for undertaking complex MRO services,” announced Boeing.
These aircraft are integral to the Indian Navy’s maritime surveillance missions to pick up enemy submarines in the Indian Ocean.
Sharad Agarwal, AIESL chief said: “We are proud to partner with Boeing, and successfully completing the landing gear overhaul of the P-8I aircraft, a first in India. It is a significant step towards India’s aspirations to become the regional hub for MRO services.”
“The Boeing India – AIESL partnership is the latest development under the Boeing India Repair Development and Sustainment (BIRDS) hub program,” announced Boeing India on Tuesday.
BIRDS involves a local network of suppliers working to build a robust MRO ecosystem for defence and commercial aircraft.
Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company has faced severe pressure after the grounding of its workhorse 737 MAX passenger airliners between March 2019 and December 2020.
The entire 737 MAX fleet was grounded after two very similar air crashes in which 346 persons were killed. These included Lion Air Flight 610 in October 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March 2019.
The pressure on the company only increased last Tuesday, when a thruster failure involving Boeing’s Starliner space capsule prevented two astronauts – Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams – from being brought back to earth from the International Space Station (ISS). The two astronauts remain trapped in the ISS.
Boeing chief Dave Calhoun, under fire from multiple quarters, resigned earlier this month and was succeeded last Thursday as president and chief executive officer by Robert “Kelly” Ortberg.
“An important aspect of the hub is training programs to increase skilled manpower by developing sub-tier suppliers and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to build top-tier MRO capabilities in India,” stated Boeing.
Boeing’s supply chain in India involves more than 300 local companies that feed into the manufacturing of fuselages for Apache helicopters and vertical fin structures for 737 airplanes. Annual sourcing from India stands at over $1 billion.
Boeing currently employs over 6,000 people in India, with 13,000 more working with its supply chain partners.
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