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June 20 (UPI) -- Lockheed Martin has said it will continue to move its F-16 production line to its Greenville, S.C. facility following the partnership announced with Tata Advanced Systems to produce the F-16. "Our original plans to move F-16 production to Greenville have not changed," John Losinger, spokesman for the F-16 program at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, told UPI.
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On Monday at the Paris Air Show, Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems signed an agreement to make India the main hub for future F-16 services, logistics, and plane and parts production.
This would serve F-16 customers worldwide and would provide India the means to customize the F-16 with their own equipment.
In March, Lockheed announced it would move it's F-16 production line to Greenville from Ft. Worth so the Texas facility can focus on F-35 Lightning II production.
The timeline for how this transition would happen is uncertain, meaning Greenville production of the F-16 will be assured for at least the immediate future. The Indian air force is holding a competition between the F-16 Block 70 and the Saab Gripen E for its next single-engine fighter plane.
"If India picks the F-16, at least the initial production run would take place at Greenville," Losinger said. "We don't have a timeline yet on when or if production would be moved to India from Greenville."
