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The Indian Defence Ministry is negotiating the purchase of C-17 heavy-lift Globemaster aircraft from the United States through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route, say ministry sources. The U.S. Air Force flew the Globemaster in a joint air exercise between the air forces of the two countries held in India Oct. 19-23 at Agra to let the Indian military familiarize itself with the transport craft, said a senior Indian Air Force official.
India is negotiating the purchase of 10 C-17 aircraft made by U.S.-based Boeing, disregarding the Russian IL-76 transport even though the American aircraft is three times costlier, Defence Ministry sources said. The C-17's advantages include its easier handling (compared with the IL-76) and ability to operate from short and rough airstrips, added the sources.
The $1.7 billion deal, likely to be finalized by early 2010, would be Boeing's second-largest deal with India since New Delhi signed a $2.1 billion agreement in January to purchase eight P-8 maritime patrol aircraft.
The Indian military needs to do three things: augment its ability to quickly lift larger numbers of troops as it views possible threats on its border with China; strengthen its presence on the Pakistani border; and fight terrorism and low-intensity warfare, said a senior Defence Ministry official.
India needs to triple its lift capacity, said the official. India already has contracted for six C-130J aircraft from the United States, the delivery of which is expected to begin by 2011.The Air Force's current fixed-wing transport fleet comprises 40 Russian-made IL-76 and more than 100 AN-32s, which are being upgraded by Ukraine, and the U.S.-made C-130J transport aircraft.
In addition, the Indian Defence Forces are buying about 800 rotary-wing assets in the next seven years.In July, India signed a $400 million contract with Ukrainian military export agency Ukrspetsexport to upgrade 100 Soviet-built AN-32 cargo aircraft for the Indian Air Force.
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5 comments:
waste of money and it will not even contribute a bit the safety of indian's/india.
@ Pankaj,
Please enlighten me with your knowledge on military affairs as you seem to be knowledgeable enough.
so has the MOD given the go ahead finally??Because some say that Mod is still evaluating whether to go ahead or not...
sooner or later someone is going to object to this deal asking for a multi vendor competition. FM is going to question the price while HAL will propose a phantom plane that can fly to the moon. IAF will then redraft the QR asking for vertical landing capability to operate from Siachin. Immediately thereafter half the contenders will run away. The remaining will start bidding on MOD officials. A solution will finally emerge when global warming melts away Siachin glacier rendering mountain peak landing requirement redundant. Sigh...
You cant be dependent on one vendor for defence needs:
I see two things in this deal:
1 Till you dont have rapid mass system for transportation like Chinese rail or roads you need these kind of planes for quick deployment of resources....in North east. India is already working on Airstrips......
2 To oblige US for Nuclear deal.
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