India Vice-President of Lockheed Martin, William Blair, has said he feels the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to US will take the relationship between the two countries to the next level.

Speaking to ANI, William Blair said, “Prime Minister Modi’s visit is truly historic. This visit is going to take our relationship (India-US ties) to the next level and I think that’s a cross-hold sector for supply chain resilience. We also look forward to our collaboration and cooperation in defence and aerospace.”

Lockheed Martin, an American multinational corporation specializing in aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology, has exported nearly USD 650 million worth of defence products from India to the US, Blair said.

“…We already have two joint ventures with TATA in India for over a decade now. We are engaged in supply chains with hundreds of suppliers and we have already exported nearly USD 650 million worth of defence products from India to the US”

On being asked about defence sector relations, Blair said, “… the launch of Indus X — This is a defence innovation bridge bringing our startups to work together in both defence and space domains as well as defence industrial collaboration roadmaps,” and added that such initiatives are going to be catalysts as well as an avenue for our industries to connect, and bringing our startups together as part of really one ecosystem.”