New Delhi, February 5: Boeing- an American multinational firm that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rockets, and satellites worldwide is now in talks with the Indian Navy to sell its F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets. Gene Cunningham, Boeing's vice president for defence, space and security, told reporters at the Singapore Air-show that a lot of technical evaluation has yet to take place in this regard. Boeing is among the largest global aircraft manufacturers; it is the second-largest defence contractor in the world based on 2015 revenue.

As per TOI report, the Indian Navy had invited proposals for 57 jets for its aircraft carriers in the last year while the Indian Air Force sought at least 100 planes. The report further states that Boeing and Saab AB have stated that both the orders should be combined, which would make it the world's biggest fighter jet order in play. Boeing is also seeing opportunities for its KC-46 multirole tanker in India and other countries, Cunningham said.

Facts about Boeing F/A-18 fighter jets:

  1. The Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet are twin-engine carrier-capable multirole fighter aircraft variants.

  2. The Super Hornet has an internal 20 mm M61 rotary cannon and can carry air-to-air missiles and air-to-surface weapons.

  3. They can carry additional fuel can be carried in up to five external fuel tanks.the aircraft can be configured as an airborne tanker by adding an external air refueling system.

  4. The Super Hornet is an evolutionary redesign of the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. The Super Hornet first flew in 1995.

  5. The concept of an enlarged Hornet was first proposed in the 1980s, which was marketed by McDonnell Douglas as Hornet 2000.

  6. The Hornet 2000 concept was an advanced F/A-18 with a larger wing and a longer fuselage to carry more fuel and more powerful engines.

As per reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has plans to spend $250 billion on defence equipment in the coming years. According to a report by CNBC, vice president of marketing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes Randy Tinseth told CNBC that the future of aviation will be in the Asia Pacific region. Reports say that the Asia Pacific region will account for about 40 percent of demand in the aviation market in the future. "If we look at the growth over the next few years, half the growth will be here in the Asia Pacific market," Tinseth added.

In January 2018, Boeing announced that it delivered a record 763 airplanes in 2017 which amounts to 49 percent of the single-aisle airplanes and 60 percent of the wide-bodied airplanes in the market. In 2016, Boeing recorded $94.6 billion in sales, ranked 24th on the Fortune magazine "Fortune 500" list (2017), ranked 61st on the "Fortune Global 500" list (2017), and ranked 25th on the "World's Most Admired Companies" list (2018).

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 05, 2018 07:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).