Lockheed Martin Holds 10th Suppliers Conference in Bengaluru
Lockheed Martin hosted the 10th edition of its India Suppliers Conference on 11-12 September 2024 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Bengaluru. The two-day conference was inaugurated by minister for information technology and biotechnology, government of Karnataka Priyank Mallikarjun Kharge. Consul General of the United States of America in Chennai Christopher W. Hodges attended the inauguration of the conference.
The conference provided a platform to drive conversations around building indigenous defence industrial capabilities that integrate MSMEs and fuel ‘Make-in-India’ partnerships for the future, with a special focus on innovative solutions to not just meet the needs of the Indian armed forces but also to feed into the global supply chain, in line with national priority to accelerate defence exports.
“We are excited to host the Suppliers Conference for the tenth year running and facilitate interactions between current and prospective defence & aerospace industry partners in India. The 2024 Suppliers Conference will offer Indian suppliers a platform to interact with our global partners and access new business opportunities, making India’s defence manufacturing ecosystem stronger,” said India Country Head, Lockheed Martin Michael Fernandez.
“Hosting the conference complements our vision of building and nurturing partnerships with the Indian industry. We are aligned with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shared of ‘Make in India, Make for the World’. It will give an opportunity to the local aerospace and defence manufacturers to meet with the supply chain team of Lockheed Martin to understand the opportunities that exist domestically and internationally,” he added.
The key highlights of the conference included presentations by Lockheed Martin business area representatives; recognition of Indian suppliers for their outstanding contributions; and in-person meetings with Lockheed Martin supply chain and business development team members. The conference also gave an opportunity to the Indian MSMEs to showcase their portfolios and capabilities.
The conference brought together senior Lockheed Martin leaders from across four business areas—Aeronautics, Missiles and Fire Control, Rotary and Mission Systems, and Space—, supply chain, industrial development, and business development teams. The event also saw participation from the company’s global Tier-1 suppliers.
The ninth edition of the Suppliers’ Conference, held in 2022, saw more than 60 Indian companies of all sizes—large, MSMEs and start-ups—participating in the conference and receiving the opportunity to showcase their capabilities to all four business areas of Lockheed Martin and international partners like GE Aviation, Honeywell, L3Harris Technologies, Raytheon Technologies, THALES and Elbit Systems among others. More than 250 delegates attended the event and over 100 business to business meetings were organized to explore partnership opportunities.