Singapore: Boeing Co. expects India to finalize an order for 10 C-17 aircraft this year and is willing to offer more of the heavy lift transport planes after the U.S. aerospace giant lost out on the South Asian nation's biggest ever defense deal to supply fighter jets.
"We're continuing to see progress on the C-17 deal in India, we've had a successful field trial and government-to-government relationship is supporting that process," Dennis Muilenburg, the president and chief executive of defense, space and security division said in Singapore. "We do expect it to come to completion some time this year and then we'll move forward with those aircraft."
According to Indian media reports, the C-17 deal is expected to be worth as much as $4 billion.
He added "there are always options to increase beyond the 10 C-17s if our Indian customers elect to procure more."
Boeing is seeking to tap demand for military hardware in Asia and the Middle East as defense budgets are expected to remain flat in the U.S., which remains the biggest market for the company. It is also seeking to grow business in what the company calls "adjacent markets" for newer technologies such as unmanned air vehicles, missiles and radars in the U.S and elsewhere.
"We expect the U.S. defense budget to be flat (and) we're seeing declining defense budgets in Europe over the next several years. That's why we're focusing on growing in some other international regions, where defense budgets are growing, and why we're diversifying our businesses in these adjacent markets," Muilenburg said.
03/05/11 Wall Street Journal
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