Monday March 17, 03:44 PM
India signs 962 mln dlr aircraft deal with Lockheed
NEW DELHI (AFP) - India plans to buy six Hercules (NYSE: HPC - news) transport planes from Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT - news) for nearly one billion dollars, marking the country's biggest ever military aircraft deal with the United States, officials said on Monday.
"The government has signed a letter of offer and acceptance with the US government for the procurement of six C-130J-30 (Hercules) transport aircraft for the Indian air force," Defence Minister A.K. Antony said in a statement.
The estimated value of the aircraft along with ground-support equipment and spares was around 962 million dollars, Antony said.
"Delivery of these aircraft is likely to be completed by December 2011," Antony added.
More than 2,300 C-130s have been sold to 67 countries since 1954.
The Indian deal involves an upgraded version of the Hercules, which began production in 1997, the company said.
The US-based Lockheed is also in the race for a 12-billion-dollar contract to sell 126 fighter jets to the Indian air force.
The Hercules contract is the largest ever awarded to a US company by India, New Delhi officials said.
The contract includes lifetime maintenance support guarantees for the four-engined turboprop aircraft, which will be used as the main tactical plane for special operations.
Lockheed Martin has offered to configure the 30-metre-long (99-foot) planes according to India's needs and equip them with missile and radar warning systems, military officials said.
The technology-starved Indian air force operates Soviet-era 10- and 40-tonne capacity transport aircraft and officials said the Hercules, which can haul 20 tonnes, would be able to "fill the gap".
The Hercules, which can be used on humanitarian missions, is part of a 2004 multi-billion-dollar Indian programme to create world-standard special forces units.
The announcement came two months after India handed a 1.5-billion euro (2.2 billion dollar) deal to France's Dassault to upgrade 51 Mirage-2000 fighter jets, which the Indian air force bought in 1985.
Ties with India's main arms supplier Russia, which accounts for 70 percent of the country's military inventory, now face rough weather over delays in deliveries and pricing.
India, the largest buyer of armaments among emerging nations, plans to spend 30 billion dollars until 2012 to modernise its 1.23-million-strong military, the world's fourth largest.
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