India-US deal to produce F-414 jets to be sealed by March

New Delhi: The Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) will seal a deal with US defence major GE Aerospace by March to jointly produce a jet engine to power the next generation of India's combat aircraft, the aviation behemoth's chief DK Sunil has said.

The mega plan to jointly produce the F-414 engines in India was announced during PM Narendra Modi's visit to Washington in 2023, though the programme suffered from several slippages because of protracted negotiations on the sharing of advanced technologies.