Boeing eyes military aviation deals with India

With Indian armed forces looking at a possible $50 billion worth of purchases in the next five years, US major Boeing has set its eyes on garnering a large chunk of that pie which includes the IAF's and Navy's requirements of airborne early warning system and mid-air refuellers.

Boeing's vice president and India head Vivek Lall told PTI here that his company had already carried out a briefing for the Navy and IAF on its B 737-700 platform AEW&C, apart from receiving the IAF's tenders for the refuellers. The two deals are estimated to be worth over USD one billion each.

"Boeing has briefed the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force about Airborne Early Warning and Command (AEW&C) aircraft on the basis of Request for Information (RFI).

However, no Request for Proposals (RFP) has been issued as yet," Lall said in an interview.

The AEW&C system that provides for long distance beyond horizon radar coverage encompasses both the B 737-700 aircraft platform and a variety of aircraft control and advanced radar systems.

Comprising components created by Boeing and Northrop Grumman, the B 737 AEW&C represents the future in this force multiplier system.

IAF plans to have at least 10 AEW&C, apart from developing its own system through the DRDO to be fitted on Embraer platform.

"Boeing has received RFP for IAF's requirement of refuellers. We are currently evaluating the RFP to determine whether to bid or not," said Lall, who was appointed Chairman of the Indo-US Strategic Dialogue by the Indo-American Chamber of C

Boeing has the KC-767 tanker/transport refueller based on its commercial 767 platform. Boeing is also contemplating developing a variant of its larger 777 design. European consortium EADS' Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport(MRTT) is Boeing's competitor for the contract.

India has already bought three Israeli Phalcon early warning system and plans to get two more of it soon.

With regard to the IAF's tenders for 22 attack and 15 heavy lift transport helicopters, Lall said Boeing's Apache AH-64D and Chinook had completed the flight and weapon trials in both India and the US.

The IAF is awaiting the arrival of the Russian Mil Mi-28 and the Mi-26 for the trials of the two class of helicopters to strengthen its armed chopper and transport fleet.

Lall said the Indo-US negotiations for the 10 C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft deal worth USD 5.8 billion were progressing well.

"Negotiations are going on well with regard to 10 C-17s. The deal has a 30 per cent offset requirement which will give a boost to the Indian industry. Congressional approvals have already been granted to the deal," Lall said.

Boeing also got a huge boost when India decided to buy the 24 AGM-84L Harpoon Block II air-to-surface missiles and concluded a USD 170 million deal last month.

"With the contract for the Harpoon missiles, India and US have arrived at an End-User Monitoring Agreement (EUMA) for the first time," he said.

Last year, the two countries had arrived at a generic EUMA agreement, which entails US inspection of systems provided to India to verify usage as required under American laws, was arrived at during the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and following talks between her and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna.

The US aerospace major will also be providing eight P-8I maritime reconnaissance and patrol aircraft to the Indian Navy for USD 2.1 billion early next year and is excited over the prospect of India deciding to opt for four more of these aircraft to take the fleet strength to 12.

"We have not received any formal intimation (on the follow-on order for four more P-8Is) so far," he, however, clarified.

Regarding the USD 11 billion worth Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), termed 'mother of all deals', Boeing has fielded the F/A-18 Super Hornets to compete with American Lockheed Martin's F-16IN, Russian MiG-RAC's MiG-35, French D'Assault's Rafale, Swedish SAAB's Gripen and EADS' Eurofighter Typhoon.

After the flight and weapon trials of the six contenders for the MMRCA deal, the IAF has submitted its evaluation to the Defence Ministry for a narrow-down of the contestants to two or three aircraft.

IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik had last week assured that the final contract for the most-awaited military aviation business would be concluded by July 2011.

"We have unveiled an international road map for Super Hornets, which would allow India to define its capacity requirements for the future. We have been investing heavily on preparing this road map for the past two years," Lall said on the F/A-18 programme.

"It (road map) provides increased survivability, situational awareness, heightened performance and compelling value for the product. The key attributes of the road map are next generation cockpit, missile laser warnings, internal Infra-Red Search and Track system, enhanced performance engines, conformal fuel tanks and enclosed weapons pod. Some of these have already been offered to India in the Boeing proposals for the MMRCA tenders," he added.