Boeing Plans To Bid For $2 Billion Defence Projects In India

Boeing Plans To Bid For $2 Billion Defence Projects In India

(NSI News Source Info) NEW-DELHI, India - April 16, 2009: Aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co. plans to bid for two defence projects in India worth $2 billion (around Rs10,000 crore) in the next few months, the company’s country head said on Wednesday. The US plane maker is looking to supply India with 22 attack helicopters and at least a dozen heavy-lift choppers to replace its ageing Soviet-era fleet.

Vying for deal: Boeing’s Apache AH-64 helicopters. A number of other models have been derived from both AH-64A and AH-64D for export. The British-built AgustaWestland Apache (assembled from kits purchased from Boeing) is based on the AH-64D with several different systems, including newer, more powerful engines. The US plane maker is looking to supply India attack helicopters and heavy-lift choppers. “We are very keen to offer our Apache AH-64 helicopters to India and we have already responded to their request for information on our product,” Vivek Lall, India country head of Boeing’s Integrated Defense the attack helicopters, but the government cancelled the tender last month saying bidders did not meet its requirements and said a fresh tender would be issued soon. Senior defence officials said the new tender for the two deals was likely to come after the general election. “We will be very happy to bid after scrutinising the details,” Lall said on Wednesday. Boeing also plans to bid for a separate $1 billion deal to supply at least a dozen heavy-lift helicopters to the Indian Air Force, with Lall saying the US aircraft manufacturer was interested in offering its Chinook CH-47. India is looking to spend more than $30 billion over the next five years to modernize its largely Soviet-era weapons systems and is also launching its first military spy satellite next year. Boeing, which has already sealed a $2.1 billion deal to sell India eight maritime patrol aircraft, is gearing up for trials to supply 126 fighter jets in one of the world’s biggest arms deals, worth more than $10 billion. Two US companies, Boeing and Lockheed Martin Corp., are vying with Russia’s MiG-35, France’s Dassault Rafale, Sweden’s Saab KAS-39 Gripen and the Eurofighter Typhoon, a consortium of British, German, Italian and Spanish companies, for the fighter deal.