New Delhi: India has offered to increase an order for US Apache helicopters to drive down costs as the two sides race to close a $1.4bn deal, officials said, the first big military contract since a new government took office in New Delhi.
The Apache gunships and a deal for Chinook helicopters, both built by Boeing, top the agenda for visiting US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel’s talks today with the new government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India and the US have rapidly expanded military sales in recent years, despite discord in areas such as trade and intellectual property rights.
Washington is keen to further step up defence co-operation with India, which it sees as a key strategic partner in Asia in the face of an increasingly powerful and assertive China.
India has offered a follow-on order of 39 AH-64D Apache helicopters in addition to the 22 now being negotiated, a defence ministry official said. The two sides have been wrangling over the price of the gunships in a deal estimated to be worth $1.4bn.
The initial batch of helicopters is meant to replace the Indian Air Force’s ageing fleet of Soviet-era aircraft and will be armed with Hellfire and Stinger missiles.
The Indian army has separately requested a fleet of at least 39 of these attack aircraft, some of which will be deployed as part of a new mountain division it is raising along the disputed border with China, an army official said.
08/08/14 Reuters/Gulf Times
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The Apache gunships and a deal for Chinook helicopters, both built by Boeing, top the agenda for visiting US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel’s talks today with the new government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India and the US have rapidly expanded military sales in recent years, despite discord in areas such as trade and intellectual property rights.
Washington is keen to further step up defence co-operation with India, which it sees as a key strategic partner in Asia in the face of an increasingly powerful and assertive China.
India has offered a follow-on order of 39 AH-64D Apache helicopters in addition to the 22 now being negotiated, a defence ministry official said. The two sides have been wrangling over the price of the gunships in a deal estimated to be worth $1.4bn.
The initial batch of helicopters is meant to replace the Indian Air Force’s ageing fleet of Soviet-era aircraft and will be armed with Hellfire and Stinger missiles.
The Indian army has separately requested a fleet of at least 39 of these attack aircraft, some of which will be deployed as part of a new mountain division it is raising along the disputed border with China, an army official said.
08/08/14 Reuters/Gulf Times
