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“Our first trip in-country was to Aero India
air show in 2005,” recalled Jerry Vincent,
who was assigned business development responsibilities
for the F/A-18 Super Hornet in India. With him
was Mark Kronenberg, today the vice president
of International Business Development for BDS.
“Things were starting to move fast,”
said Kronenberg. “The U.S. State Department
had just greenlighted U.S. defense contractor
sales to India and at about the same time India
issued a Request for Information for 126 new multi-role
combat fighters.”
To the handful of companies in the world building
combat fighters, the India competition promises
to be one of the biggest international fighter
purchases in decades. But Boeing was not among
the companies sent the initial information request.
That’s because few in India, even in the
Ministry of Defense, regarded Boeing as a defense
company, which made the work of Vincent and Kronenberg
all the more pressing.
“The Indian Air Force was glad that Boeing,
known for its quality in commercial airplanes,
also had a defense arm and created products like
the F/A-18 Super Hornet,” said Vincent, who,
along with Kronenberg, scrambled to get Boeing
a seat at the bidder’s table. Yet, their
initial meetings with the Defense Ministry and
IAF would not have happened were it not for the
six-decade legacy of trust already established
in India by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
“How could I not meet with The Boeing Company?”
the Chief of the Indian Air Force is reported
to have said as he welcomed Chris Chadwick, now
president of Boeing Military Aircraft, into his
office weeks later.
Boeing executives realized that to succeed in
India, the company had to present one face to
the customer that simply said “Boeing.”
Internally, this ‘One Boeing’ approach
reached across intra-corporate boundaries to capitalize
on talent, technology and expertise across the
enterprise.
In line with this strategy, BDS brought in someone
to lead its initiatives in India with a solid
background of Commercial Airplanes experience
in India. That was Vivek Lall, who now is responsible
for promoting the F/A-18 Super Hornet and other
BDS defense products in the Indian defense market.
That early strategy is working.
- In 2009, Boeing won the biggest U.S. defense
deal with India with the multibillion-dollar
sale of the eight Boeing P-8I long-range anti-submarine
aircraft, with more sales possibly on the way.
Although a BDS product in name, the P-8I is
a derivative aircraft based on Boeing’s
737 passenger aircraft, which Lall knew from
his Commercial Airplanes days.
- In January 2010, India sent the U.S. government
a request for information on a potential order
of 10 Boeing C-17 Globemaster III military transports,
a deal industry analysts say could exceed $2
billion.
- The F/A-18 Super Hornet has become a strong
contender in India’s fighter competition,
which is worth as much as $10 billion. The Super
Hornet completed the India phase of the all-important
flight trials in August.
- In October, Boeing submitted bids for India’s
Heavy Lift and Attack helicopter requirements,
offering the CH-47 Chinook and AH-64D Apache.
- India selected BDS to maintain the three Boeing
Business Jets operated by the government of
India.
 These,
and other potential India defense requirements,
represent a $31 billion market opportunity for
Boeing over the next 10 years, according to Kronenberg.
“If we do this right, we’re very well-placed
to become India’s defense supplier of choice,”
he said.
But sales are only half the India success story.
Boeing is forging partnerships with Indian companies
that will inject new talent and processes into
Boeing, making it a leaner company with lower
costs that can win new sales and preserve jobs.
“In this new world, partnerships are the
only way to go, and we’re building them,”
Lall said.
Boeing has placed work packages with large, government-owned
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) that include
F/A-18 gun bay doors and wire harnesses, and is
sharing with HAL Lean+ and program management
principles. If Boeing wins the fighter contract,
HAL will assemble 108 of the 126 aircraft in India,
as required in the Request for Proposal.
BDS also is exploring partnerships with numerous
other Indian companies and has begun signing contracts
to satisfy work placement requirements from the
P-8I sale. Boeing and India’s Bharat Electronics
Limited are jointly developing an analysis and
experimentation center in Bangalore and New Delhi
to assist the service branches in understanding
how to satisfy future defense and security needs.
Looking back, Chadwick, now president of Boeing
Military Aircraft, marvels at the work that has
been accomplished in a short time by One Boeing
in India.
He also sees a larger legacy. “I believe
the U.S., Boeing and India have the potential
to build a great and lasting defense partnership,”
he said. “And one of the greatest symbols
of that partnership can be the Super Hornet.”
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