(Reuters) – General Electric said on Thursday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd to make fighter jet engines for the Indian Air Force.
The development comes at a time when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on an official state visit to the United States.
The memorandum of understanding includes the potential joint production of GE Aerospace’s F414 engines in India, GE said.
Hindustan Aeronautics previously said it planned to use the engine for a second generation of light-combat aircraft and it was in talks over domestic production of the engines.
Reuters reported in May the Biden administration was poised to sign off on a deal that would allow GE to produce jet engines powering Indian military aircraft.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K and Shounak Dasgupta)