US okays single largest arms transfer to India, To Sell 8 Boeing P-8I Patrol Aircraft For $2.1Bn Washington: The Barack Obama administration has okayed the single largest arms transfer to India to date. It has told the US Congress that it has factored in “political, military, economic, human rights and arms control considerations’’ while approving the sale of eight Boeing P-8I maritime patrol aircraft worth $2.1 billion. The state department formally intimated Congress to this effect in a March 12 notification, paving the way for a serious ramping up of India’s maritime defensive and offensive capability and taking Indo-US military ties to a higher level, both in terms of strategic relationship and old-fashioned dollars. The $2.1 billion that India will pony up for the eight P-8Is is almost double the $1 billion that New Delhi had spent on acquiring six Lockheed Martin-made C-130J Super Hercules military transport planes last year. The I in P-8I denotes India because it is the first foreign buyer of a customized variant of the P-8A Poseidon that is still being developed for the US Navy. The P-8s, which are replacing the older generation P-3 Orions that have been in service since 1961 in the US, are meant for maritime reconnaissance, anti-submarine operations, naval interdiction and offshore electronic eavesdropping, among other capabilities. Derived from the commercial Boeing 737 airframe, they will replace the aging Russianmade Tupolev TU-142M which has done the job so far for the Indian Navy. India chose the US Boeing-made P-8s over several rivals, including EADS Airbus A319. Boeing will deliver the first P-8I within 48 months of a contract signing, and the rest by 2015. Each aircraft will cost $220 million. Finally, IAF to get Israeli Phalcon AWACS in May In a big boost to its air surveillance capabilities, the Indian Air Force is all set to get the sophisticated Israeli Phalcon AWACS (airborne warning and control systems) in May. The Phalcon AWACS will help the IAF detect troop build-up or aircraft movement deep inside Pakistan while flying well within Indian airspace. The $1.1 billion deal was signed in March 2004 and the first AWACS were to be delivered in December 2007. However, the deal ran into a number of technical and other hurdles. TNN P 9 TAKING UP ARMS Jet deal could be a game-changer Washington: The US administration has cleared the sale of eight Boeing P-8I maritime patrol aircraft worth $2.1 billion to India. It includes associated support equipment, spares, training and logistical support through June 2019, the state department said in its notice to the Congress. It also said direct armstrade “offsets’’—work to be generated in India—were expected to include engineering service, manufacturing and integrated logistics-support projects totalling $641.3 million. The C-130J and P-8I are appetizers for the real McCoy that US defence contractors are licking their lips for. The Indian Air Force is looking to buy 126 new multi-role fighter jets at an estimated cost of about $10 billion. Boeing is pushing its F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet, while rival Lockheed is pitching its F-16. They are competing against jets made by Russia, France, Sweden and a European consortium. But transactions between the US and India are bedevilled by trust issues. New Delhi is queasy about what Washington insists are standard “enduser’’ contracts aimed at preventing leakage of sensitive US technology to third countries. Such agreements, US says, are a routine part of US government-to-government arms sales, but Indian military officials find them intrusive. As a result, the two countries are having to conclude end user certification on a caseby-case basis, as they did in this deal, often resulting in delays in systems governed by over-arching bureaucracies. While the P-8s will give India an edge over Pakistan, which has been armed with upgraded versions of P3-C Orions by the US, questions remain about US motives as it doles out freebies to Islamabad. India is gradually moving away from Russia as its principal arms supplier. Israel is now India’s biggest supplier, although the $10 billion multi-role combat aircraft deal could be a game-changer.
