HYDERABAD: Officials of US-based defence manufacturing company Lockheed Martin has been so pleased with the working of its manufacturing unit in Hyderabad, that they are doubling its capacity in addition to setting up a side manufacturing unit, US Consul General Katherine B Hadda said on Friday.
In an exclusive chat with the Express team, Hadda said, “Lockheed Martin has been around nearly as long as we have. They produce a component of the C130 aircraft in the city and they are so pleased with the manufacturing that they are doubling their capacity. They have also starting a metal-to-metal bonding facility, which is going to be used by other industries because they have been so impressed with the workers,” she said. Lockheed has now also decided to build the wings for the F16s here.
Apart from this, Boeing also set up its manufacturing facility in the city last year. On that, Hadda said, “Last year Boeing had opened up a new outlet to manufacture the fuselages of the Apache helicopters. Apache helicopters are the one in which our President flies around in. It is very possible that one of the fuselages made here would be the fuselage that is tapped by the White House.”
She added that during the joint Indo-US military exercise in the city, US special commandos had come to the Consulate and trained security officials of the State. “They trained 50 protective security officers on emergency medical care.”