The US is headed towards clinching four major deals worth almost $5 billion.
Defence ministry sources said the deals for six more C-130J ‘Super Hercules’ aircraft ($1.2 billion), 22 Apache attack helicopters ($1.4 billion), 145 M-777 ultralight howitzers ($885 million) and 15 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters (around $1 billion) “are in the final stages’’ now.
India will convey this to US deputy secretary of defence Ashton B Carter when he arrives here next week. Carter, who will hold talks with defence minister A K Antony, national security advisor Shiv Shankar Menon and defence secretary R K Mathur, is the Obama administration’s “point man’’ for expanding defence trade with India as a cornerstone of the bilateral strategic ties.
“The deals should be inked within this financial year (2013-2014) despite budgetary constraints. The C-130J deal, for instance, is likely to go to the Cabinet Committee on Security in October-November,’’ said a source.
The aircraft and howitzer deals will be direct government-to-government contracts under the US foreign military sales (FMS) programme, which does not involve competition through global tenders.
The attack and heavy-lift helicopter deals, however, were won by aviation major Boeing after its AH-64D Apache Longbow and twin-rotor Chinook helicopters outclassed Russian Mi-28 Havoc and Mi-26 choppers in field trials and commercial evaluation.
Incidentally, the four deals are also in tune with the government’s recent approval to the Rs 90,000 crore plan to raise a new mountain strike corps along with two “independent’’ infantry brigades and two “independent’’ armoured brigades (totalling over 80,000 soldiers) over the next seven years to plug operational gaps against China.
While the first six C-130J aircraft acquired by IAF are based at the Hindon airbase, the six new “Super Hercules” will be housed at Panagarh in West Bengal. Panagarh will serve as the headquarters for the new Army mountain corps. Similarly, the air-mobile M-777 howitzers, with an almost 30-km range, can be swiftly deployed in high-altitude areas in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh by helicopters and aircraft to counter China.
Defence ministry sources said the deals for six more C-130J ‘Super Hercules’ aircraft ($1.2 billion), 22 Apache attack helicopters ($1.4 billion), 145 M-777 ultralight howitzers ($885 million) and 15 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters (around $1 billion) “are in the final stages’’ now.
India will convey this to US deputy secretary of defence Ashton B Carter when he arrives here next week. Carter, who will hold talks with defence minister A K Antony, national security advisor Shiv Shankar Menon and defence secretary R K Mathur, is the Obama administration’s “point man’’ for expanding defence trade with India as a cornerstone of the bilateral strategic ties.
“The deals should be inked within this financial year (2013-2014) despite budgetary constraints. The C-130J deal, for instance, is likely to go to the Cabinet Committee on Security in October-November,’’ said a source.
The aircraft and howitzer deals will be direct government-to-government contracts under the US foreign military sales (FMS) programme, which does not involve competition through global tenders.
The attack and heavy-lift helicopter deals, however, were won by aviation major Boeing after its AH-64D Apache Longbow and twin-rotor Chinook helicopters outclassed Russian Mi-28 Havoc and Mi-26 choppers in field trials and commercial evaluation.
Incidentally, the four deals are also in tune with the government’s recent approval to the Rs 90,000 crore plan to raise a new mountain strike corps along with two “independent’’ infantry brigades and two “independent’’ armoured brigades (totalling over 80,000 soldiers) over the next seven years to plug operational gaps against China.
While the first six C-130J aircraft acquired by IAF are based at the Hindon airbase, the six new “Super Hercules” will be housed at Panagarh in West Bengal. Panagarh will serve as the headquarters for the new Army mountain corps. Similarly, the air-mobile M-777 howitzers, with an almost 30-km range, can be swiftly deployed in high-altitude areas in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh by helicopters and aircraft to counter China.
No comments:
Post a Comment