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US is set to be India’s biggest arms supplier with the the Indian defence ministry likely to clear the decks for purchase of another four P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft for nearly $1 billion, reported The Times Of India.
The spell of new defence deals and joint projects are making the US to consolidate its position as India’s biggest arms supplier. Earlier in June, the countries entered into a 10-year defence framework. The US bagged $10 billion worth contracts over the last eight years.
A source was quoted by the Times Of India as saying that, "The contract negotiation committee (CNC) has completed its work. Now, the DAC approval is needed for the offsets deviation. The proposed contract will then go to the finance ministry for vetting before the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) for the final nod."
As a part of $2.1 billion deal inked in January 2009, the Navy has now inducted seven out of eight P-8Is ordered from Boeing. The current deal will be the ‘follow-on contract’ to it. Serving as "intelligent hawk-eyes" over the Indian Ocean, these radar-packed aircrafts are based at the Arakkonam naval air station in Tamil Nadu. Enemy warships and submarines can also be taken on by Harpoon Block-II missiles, MK-54 lightweight torpedoes, rockets and depth charges, which are armed to the aircrafts.
Fresh negotiations for the proposed $770 million contract are also set to begin in the Pentagon and South Block for M-777 ultra-light howitzers. Under the contract bulk of the 145 artillery guns are to be acquired in the government-to-government deal.
Moreover BAE Systems will tie up with an Indian partner and set up a production base on the lines of its facility at Hattiesburg (Mississippi) in the US. Others who are in the fight for the project include the Ordnance Factory Board and PSU BHEL besides private players like L&T, Mahindra, Tata, VEM Technologies and Reliance Defence Systems.
Additionally, the finance ministry is also evaluating the deals worth $2.5 billion for 22 Apache attack and 15 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters from Boeing. In lines with PM Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' policy, both the countries have pressed the strangle on their transformative Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI).
-Sumana
