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2 Dogfight for lucrative Indian
warplane deal By Sudha
Ramachandran
BANGALORE - More than 500
aircraft manufacturers from around the world were
in Bangalore last week wooing India with their
wares. While ordinary Bangaloreans were being
dazzled with awesome aerial displays, officials
were being courted assiduously at the city's
Yelahanka air base. With deals worth billions of
US dollars in the offing, it was the dogfight for
the contract for fighter aircraft that dominated
Aero India 2007.
Aero India 2007 - India's
answer to Britain's Farnborough Air Show
were
from abroad - a 10% increase over participation in
the previous show in 2005. But more than the
numbers, it was the names of the participants that
were impressive. All the top aircraft
manufacturers were here last week for a piece of
the coming action in Indian skies.
India's
aviation industry - civilian as well as military -
is poised for a major expansion. India is on a
shopping spree to compensate for the depletion of
its fighting squadrons. At a press conference at
the air show, Indian Defense Minister
Arackaparambil Kurian Antony announced that the
Indian Air Force (IAF) is looking to buy 126
multi-role combat aircraft and that bids from
aviation companies for the
US$6.5-billion-to-$10-billion contract will be
invited "very soon". The contract, one of the
single largest fighter plane contracts in the
history of aviation, has been the talk of military
aviation circles for several months now.
Among those in the race for the lucrative
contract are the United States' Lockheed Martin
(F-16) and Boeing (F/A-18 Super Hornet), France's
Dassault (Rafale), Russia's RAC-MiG (MiG-29M2),
Sweden's Saab (JAS-39 Gripen), and the Eurofighter
Typhoon - several of which participated in the
flight displays at Bangalore.
And they
tried every trick in the book to impress India.
The Russians unveiled their newest fighter - the
MiG-35 - to the world at Bangalore. "The pride of
being with India for 44 years," screamed hoardings
put up by the Russians, reminding India of the two
countries' long-standing defense partnership.
Russian-made MiGs have formed the backbone of the
IAF, with French Mirage jets and British Jaguars
providing some muscle.
However, the
Americans are conspicuous by their absence in
India's fighter fleet because of the decades of
frosty relations between New Delhi and Washington.
Lockheed and Boeing are looking to change that.
They are fierce rivals for the Indian
contract, but are known to collaborate, such as on
the F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighter project. In
Bangalore, they upstaged the Russians by roping in
Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, who
recently led Tata Steel's successful bid for the
Anglo-British steelmaker Corus. Tata's piloting of
the F-16 and the F-18 received huge media coverage
and was a public relations coup.
The deal
for combat aircraft is being fiercely fought over
because for many in the race, it could well
provide a new lease on life. It would keep
Eurofighter solvent for the next two decades, and
Lockheed Martin will not have to close down a
production line in the next five years if it wins
the order. Initially, India had indicated that the
contract would be awarded to several companies. It
has now indicated that it will purchase the 126
fighters from a single manufacturer. The winner
will take all.
The Russians drew first
blood at Bangalore. India announced that the deal
for the purchase of 40 Sukhoi-30MKIs negotiated
earlier had been cleared. This will push up the
number of Sukhois in the IAF to 230. The Su-30 is
now well on its way to replacing the MiG-21 as the
mainstay of the IAF's fighter operations. India
and Russia have already agreed to produce jointly
the fifth-generation stealth fighter, a project
being led by the Sukhoi Design Bureau.
At
Bangalore, the Americans seemed to be on the brink
of a breakthrough too. IAF chief S P Tyagi
announced that the air force is likely to purchase
six C-130J Hercules aircraft from Lockheed. If the
deal comes through, it will be the first US
military aircraft flown by the IAF since the
1960s.
That the Americans are determined
to make up for lost time in snapping up big-ticket
business with India was obvious at the
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