Boeing Invests in India Space Efforts

Boeing has offered to partner with India on manned space missions, including on the very significant "composite cryogenic tanks" for the launch and propulsion control of rockets.

The development is apparently a fallout of US President Barack Obama's visit here last November and the recent removal of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from the so-called US Commerce Entities list which prohibited the transfer of dual use high technology to them.

According to Vivek Lall, Boeing's Defence, Space and Security vice president in India, the company had an established and leading role in US space missions, including in the space shuttle programme, and that with the experience built over decades, "we believe we can provide value-added assistance to India's space programme".

He told India Strategic defence magazine that Boeing had the necessary clearance to initiate discussions with India, "but how forward the two countries go would depend upon what India wants and the bilateral agreements between the two governments".

"At the moment, we have indicated the intent to cooperate. It is up to ISRO now to tell us what it wants, and we will do our best," Lal said, adding that he had recently called on ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan to make the offer.

Any specifics however would have to be cleared procedurally by the US government (Departments of State, Defence and Commerce), he said but pointed out: "We have submitted a formal request to the US Department of State to enable us to proceed down this path should our services be accepted. Our initial discussions focus on ISROs requirements for the future."

The soft-spoken US-educated Lall, who has successfully spearheaded the Boeing campaign for military aircraft and systems in India for the past few years, said that while the levels of technologies to be transferred from the US to India was between the two governments, Boeing was willing to share its expertise in "Launch Escape System (LES), Vehicle Health Monitoring System and Abort Triggers (VHMSAT), Life Support System, Crew Accommodations and other areas such as reusable space systems and composite cryogenic tanks".

Boeing Offers India Significant Space Cooperation