Tata-Lockheed Martin JV gets new COO

The joint venture between Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics has a new Chief Operating Officer with the appointment of Kiran Dambala, announced last week.

According to a statement, ‘Dambala assumes this position from the outgoing Tata – Lockheed Martin Aerostructures Limited (TLMAL) COO Abhay Paranjape, who has retired after 35 years of distinguished service with Lockheed Martin’.

“Established in 2010, TLMAL is the single global source of C-130J Super Hercules empennage assemblies and employs 500 people. In 2018, Lockheed Martin announced that TLMAL will produce fighter wings and this work is currently underway at the Hyderabad facility,” said the statement, adding, “C-130 empennage assemblies produced by TLMAL include the aircraft’s horizontal and vertical stabilizers along with leading edges and tip assemblies. The TLMAL team also previously manufactured sets of C-130J center wing box components, and is also home to a cutting-edge 4,700 square-meter metal-to-metal bonding facility.”

The statement also said, “A Lockheed Martin employee since 2002, Dambala was most recently the program manager for modifications and upgrades in Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II program. He was the primary contact for all domestic and international F-35 customers on modifications and upgrades to meet customers’ capability milestones.”