This week, defense contractor Lockheed Martin announced that it reached a deal with Indian defense corporation, Tata Advanced Systems, to produce the F-16 fighter aircraft in India, a move championed by The Heritage Foundation.

John Venable, a senior research fellow in Heritage’s Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, and a former F-16 pilot with more than 4,000 hours in the cockpit, wrote in February that allowing F-16 production in India would actually help protect American jobs and strengthen a vital partnership in an increasingly volatile part of the globe.

“By approving this sale and allowing India to produce the F-16, President Trump would strengthen our global security posture, bolster our relationship with India, and save American jobs that would otherwise be lost if and when the last F-16 rolls off the line in Fort Worth,” wrote Venable, in Defense One.

This development will still require the approval of the Trump administration, but Lockheed’s goal to continue production with India is an encouraging sign.

"John continues to lead the way in proposing conservative, commonsense policy ideas which strengthen our military and its standing in the world,” said Thomas Spoehr, director of Heritage’s Center for National Defense. “He is a thoughtful analyst whose opinions are taken seriously by business leaders and policymakers in both branches of government, and this is just one more example of that fact."