NEW DELHI – With an eye on Pakistan and China, India to pick the winner ofthe world’s biggest combat aircraft order, according to a senior Boeing Co.executive.
Boeing is well placed in the race to supply the Indian Air Force with 110fighter jets, Gene Cunningham, Boeing vice president of global defensesales, told Bloomberg News on Sunday on the sidelines of a security forumin Singapore. The company is a finalist in a separate competition to supplythe Indian navy with 57 fighter jets.
“We have gotten to know Indian industry, understand the Indian process,”Cunningham said.
The tender for 110 combat aircraft mandates building at least 85 percent ofthe order locally. The deal is likely to be at least $15 billion.
Boeing said in April that it would partner with state-run HindustanAeronautics Ltd. and Mahindra Defense Systems Ltd. to manufacture theF/A-18 Super Hornet in India at a new facility, which can also be used forother requirements. Other companies in the running include Lockheed MartinCorp., Saab AB and BAE Systems Plc.
“We’ll throw our hat into the ring,” Alan Garwood, BAE’s director for groupbusiness development, said in an interview on Sunday. “We’ve seen therequirement and we’ve said we’ll put some sort of tender in.”
The British defence and aerospace company makes the twin-engine EurofighterTyphoon jet. Garwood said BAE had been making aircraft in India for 70years, a key advantage given Prime Minister Narendra Modilink>’s requirement that the newjets be made in India.
“We have good relationships with industry and government there,” Garwoodsaid.
Getting new aircraft is crucial for PM Modi as the South Asian nation facesincreased risks from neighbouring Pakistan and China at a time when theRussian MiG fighters — India’s mainstay — are being phased out. The defenseindustry is a key part of Modi’s “Make in India” policy, which aims topromote domestic manufacturing.
*Canceled Order*
After scrapping an order with Dassault Aviation for 126 Rafale jets worth$11 billion in 2015, a process that took nearly a decade, Modi’sadministration bought 36 jets separately to speed up the process. Under thenew tender, the winner will have to deliver the first jet within threeyears of securing the contract.
India had previously said that it was looking to replace its current fleetof combat aircraft with a single-engine jet but subsequently announced thatit would also consider twin-engine aircraft such as Boeing’s twin-engineF/A-18 Super Hornet.
Boeing’s Cunningham said the change in direction meant that the timing ofthe Indian Air Force process was now about 12 months later than the IndianNavy.
“Certainly today, the Indian Navy timeline will conclude sooner than theIndian Air Force,” Cunningham said. “They would appear to us to besequential, but I’m not assuming that they’re related.”