vishnuvardhana
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India has offered to increase an order for U.S. Apache helicopters to drive down costs as the two sides race to close a $1.4 billion 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 U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's talks on Friday with India's incoming administration led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India and the United States 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 cooperation 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 $1.4 billion.
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.
"The point is we are looking at 60 to 70 pieces eventually, so the expectation is the vendor will factor that in, in the price negotiations," said the defence ministry official, asking not to be named in line with ministry policy.
U.S. defence sales to India have grown from the low hundreds of millions of dollars in the decade to 2008 to more than $9 billion since that year.
According IHS Jane's, a defence research firm, India was the top foreign buyer of U.S. arms last year.
India offers to buy more U.S. helicopters, hopes to drive down costs| Reuters
The Apache gunships and a deal for Chinook helicopters, both built by Boeing, top the agenda for visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's talks on Friday with India's incoming administration led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India and the United States 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 cooperation 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 $1.4 billion.
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.
"The point is we are looking at 60 to 70 pieces eventually, so the expectation is the vendor will factor that in, in the price negotiations," said the defence ministry official, asking not to be named in line with ministry policy.
U.S. defence sales to India have grown from the low hundreds of millions of dollars in the decade to 2008 to more than $9 billion since that year.
According IHS Jane's, a defence research firm, India was the top foreign buyer of U.S. arms last year.
India offers to buy more U.S. helicopters, hopes to drive down costs| Reuters
Lets wait and see, if we really are that silly to waste that much money for the pride of IAF.
you all got a big boarder and china going to have thousands of tanks and Pakistan and Bangladesh might have a thousand or so too 
Lets hope this sense is also carried to MMRCA deal. 
