Defence firms line up as India goes arms shopping

LUCKNOW: US and European defence firms backed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s military modernization drive at a defense exhibition on Friday, despite a lengthy procurement process running into years and limited funds.

Airbus SE and U.S.-based Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co. are eying multi-billion dollar deals under Modi’s aim to upgrade an aging fleet of aircraft and enhance local arms manufacturing to cut imports. The military is also looking to buy submarines, warships and battlefield communication systems. But these have made little headway. Airbus is offering to set up an assembly line in India in partnership with the Tata Group to produce the C295W military transport aircraft as a replacement for Indian Air Force’s Avro fleet.

The 120 billion rupee Avro replacement program has been in the pipeline for almost a decade. Airbus on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with India’s Adani Aerospace and Defense, part of the diversified Adani Group, for aircraft services in India and South Asia. Boeing, which has pitched its F/A-18 Block III Super Hornet fighter for the India air force and navy and is competing with Lockheed Martin’s F-21, said it plans to push India’s armed forces’ drive for modernization through a suite of five products - the Super Hornet, KC-46 tanker, P-8I aircraft, AH-64E Apache and CH-47(I) Chinook helicopters.

The company said it wants to build a global defense and aerospace ecosystem “that creates jobs and industrial capacity with Make in India,” said Salil Gupte, president, Boeing India in a statement during the exhibition.

Boeing and Lockheed will be competing with Sweden’s Saab AB with its Gripen fighter and France’s Dassault Aviation SA Rafale and Russian fighter aircraft.