Meet the IIT-D Grad From Bihar Who Will Head Boeing’s F-15 Fighter Jet Programme!

Born in a remote village in Bihar that had no electricity or road connectivity, a young Pratyush Kumar was home-schooled by his grandfather before he moved to Delhi at the age of 11—a journey that was to change his life forever.

From seeing a television set for the first time to being spellbound by a city, one could say that the illustrious journey that Kumar would eventually undertake, would unfurl from the national capital.

The highly decorated engineer was recently selected by US-based aircraft-maker Boeing to lead its advanced F-15 fighter jet program for the United States and the world.

Kumar, who is currently the president of Boeing India, will now focus on expanding the F-15 business in the US as well as the rest of the world.

“I want to thank Prat Kumar for his enormous contribution to Boeing’s business in India and the development of a stronger aerospace industry ecosystem across the country. He is an exceptional leader who has demonstrated his ability to respond to global customers and to empower his team to collaborate and deliver results. This appointment is a testament of our recognition of Prat’s ability to lead a team to success,” said Marc Allen, President, Boeing International.

During his five-year stint as the president of Boeing’s Indian arm, Kumar had advanced the activities of the aerospace company in India across its three business units while building strong relationships with the government and industry.

From launching an engineering and technology centre in Bangalore for driving innovation, to establishing a joint venture with Tata in Hyderabad, to manufacture fuselages of the Apache and Chinook helicopters for the Indian military, Kumar paved the way for an exponential expansion of Boeing’s presence and business in India, according to the statement released by the US-based aviation major.

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Interestingly, Kumar is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, where he completed his BTech in mechanical engineering in 1989 before heading abroad to study Materials Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has also worked at companies like McKinsey & Company and General Electric in the US, besides co-founding two technology start-ups Coventor and Cytonome in Boston in the early 2000s.

“I am excited as ever for the future of Boeing in India, and the significant investments we are making in India to establish our roots and build our future together. We will continue to expand our local manufacturing, our technology and innovations, our products and people. I am honoured and equally thrilled about my new role and hope to build a strong business momentum for the iconic F-15 program (me), around the world,” said an upbeat Kumar, reports The Times of India.

We congratulate Pratyush Kumar for his top appointment and wish him luck for all his future endeavours.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

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