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Visualizza Versione Completa : Aviazione militare indiana acquisterà 6 nuovi C-130J "Super Hercules"



Zarco
04-02-08, 15:18
India to Buy Military Transport Planes from United States

India is set to buy six Hercules transport planes from U.S-based Lockheed Martin. This will be India's biggest arms deal with the United States, and a major departure in New Delhi's military purchasing policies.

Defense Ministry officials say India's security cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, recently approved a deal to buy six Hercules transport planes from the United States.

The contract for the C-130J planes is expected to be signed next month. The deal will be worth more than $1 billion.

Lockheed Martin officials have told local media they will configure the planes according to India's needs, and equip them with missiles and radar warning systems. The planes are meant to enhance India's special forces capability.

Although the number of planes involved is small, the deal represents a major change in policy by New Delhi. The Indian Air Force currently uses transport aircraft supplied by the former Soviet Union. The Hercules purchase will mark the first big entry of American military equipment into the Indian defense forces, which for decades have relied heavily on Soviet arms and armaments.

Defense analyst Uday Bhaskar, former director of Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, says the purchase of American military equipment follows the vast improvement in the political and strategic relationship between the two countries in recent years.

"The United States has not been a significant supplier of military inventory to India for a variety of complex reasons that go back to the Cold War,' said Bhaskar. "The contract for the transport aircraft is a positive development, and it would balance the field as far as India is concerned. My sense is that the United States and India would be looking at this for the long term."

Lockheed Martin and Boeing, the other major American aircraft manufacturer, are also bidding on a $10 billion contract to supply India with 126 combat aircraft. New Delhi is further reported to be negotiating the purchase of American reconnaissance aircraft.

India has emerged as the biggest buyer of military equipment in the developing world, and is projected to spend $50 billion over the next decade to modernize its military. U.S. arms exporters are eager to get a slice of this lucrative market.

Observers say the United States and Israel could overtake India's traditional defense suppliers, such as Russia, France and Britain, in the years to come.

Fonte: Voice of America

Zarco
08-02-08, 03:29
'Super Hercules' delivery from 2011

India and the US have signed a billion-dollar deal for purchase of six Super Hercules military transport planes from Lockheed Martin. The deal was signed recently after the Indian Cabinet Committee on Security last month cleared the purchase of six C-130J Super Hercules aircraft. The planes are expected to be delivered from 2011.
“It is a very good plane and is very widely used. It is a workhorse and has been used for 40 years but the ‘J’ type (C-130J) is amazing... it can really take off on a much shorter runway and India basically lacks this kind of an airplane,” said James Clad, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence.

Lockheed is also bidding against Russian and European competitors for the sale of 126 multi-purpose combat aircraft to the Indian Air Force.

Defence and security relationships between India and the US is one of those “deeper ongoing things”, Clad said.

“Think of it as a trendline that is gradually but definitely going up,” Clad added.

Clad, the senior Pentagon official in charge of South and South East Asia, said the deal has helped breach a “psychological barrier” in Indo-US defence cooperation.

“It squarely puts Lockheed Martin on the ground with Boeing which is already there in India in civilian aircraft. It is one of those things where the psychology of which is very significant. There have been other things like Raytheon radars but this is the kind of thing that has an effect on the defence corporate community...diligence, good work and products make the difference,” he said. “It puts us on the scoreboard,” Clad added.

Fonte: Press Trust Of India