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| India-Pakistan |
| India eyes $2b defence deal with US |
| 2008-01-29 |
| NEW DELHI: After joint combat exercises to develop "interoperability", the Indo-US military tango is now firmly waltzing into the arms purchase arena as well. With the over $1-billion deal for six C-130J 'Super Hercules' aircraft in the bag, an even bigger defence contract is now headed the US way. Sources on Monday said the defence ministry and Boeing have begun the "commercial price negotiations" for the purchase of eight P-8i long-range maritime reconnaissance (LRMR) patrol aircraft, with anti-submarine warfare capabilities, for the Indian Navy. Unlike the Super Hercules deal, which as reported by TOI earlier is a direct 'foreign military sale' contract under a government-to-government arrangement, the P-8i has emerged the victor in the global LRMR sweepstakes held by India to plug operational gaps in its maritime snooping abilities. The P-8i, based on the Boeing-737 commercial airliner, has out-performed the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company's A-319 maritime patrol aircraft and other contenders in meeting 'qualitative requirements' in the technical trials held by the Navy. "The contract will be signed soon. The first P-8i will be delivered within 48 months, that is in mid-2012 and all the eight by mid-2015. They will replace the Navy's eight aging Tupolev-142Ms," said a source. |
| Posted by:john frum |