India’s defence co ties up with Boeing firm for co-production of USV systems

NEW DELHI: An Indian defence company, Sagar Defence Engineering, on Tuesday announced a partnership with Boeing company Liquid Robotics for the co-development and co-production of scaled uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) systems. India’s defence ministry and the White House had earlier announced this newly-formed defence industrial partnership, which supports the US-India Defence Industrial Cooperation roadmap and will strengthen undersea domain awareness (UDA) and maritime security for India, US and their global partners.
Sagar Defence and Liquid Robotics will jointly pursue co-development of solutions and large-scale co-production of USV systems for undersea domain awareness for the Indian Navy.The partnership leverages expertise from both companies and is expected to yield co-produced USVs as early as 2025, a company statement said.
"Our co-development and co-production partnership is a testament to the capabilities of Indian defence firms manufacturing and delivering at global benchmarks. This also underscores both partners' efforts to help bolster India's vision of Aatmanirbharta (self-reliance) in defence, while advancing regional and global maritime security", said Nikunj Parashar, co-founder of Sagar Defence.
Salil Gupte, president, of Boeing India, and South Asia, said, "This co-development and co-production of scaled USV systems with an Indian partner truly demonstrates our commitment and ability to help realise the govt's vision for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat in defence. Boeing continues to lead the way in having built local capabilities across manufacturing, design, engineering and skilling in India with Indian partners over decades — and that foundation positions us strongly for more such initiatives in the future."
Welcoming the agreement, Shane Goodenough, CEO of Liquid Robotics, said, "Wave Glider is an ideal system for fostering collaboration between the US and Indian govts and strengthening tactical readiness in the Indo-Pacific. Teaming up with Sagar Defence marks a new era for our bilateral defense cooperation and enables us to grow our existing Wave Glider operations in India. We are very pleased to join forces with the skilled team at Sagar, who has a proven record of successfully integrating uncrewed systems into active defense missions,” said Shane Goodenough, CEO of Liquid Robotics.
Sagar Defence is already a leading provider of scaled uncrewed surface vehicles to the Indian Navy, with core competencies in vehicle control systems, sensor integration, and unmanned system manufacturing.