India clears $2.5 billion Boeing military chopper deal: source

'Hybrid' deal includes contract signed with US for weapons and radars for the 22 Apache and 15 Chinook helicopters


Afp September 22, 2015
PHOTO: BOEING

NEW DELHI: India cleared on Tuesday a $2.5 billion deal to buy 37 military helicopters from aviation giant Boeing, on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States.

Modi's government is in the middle of a multi-billion dollar upgrade of its Soviet-era military hardware, partly to keep up with Pakistan and big-spending China.

The cabinet cleared the purchase of 22 Apache helicopters and 15 heavy-lifting Chinook choppers, a long-pending deal that was discussed during US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's visit to India last August.

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"The cabinet committee on security has given the green signal for the helicopters. The deal is worth $2.5 billion," a government source told AFP.

Since his sweeping election victory last May, Modi's government has approved a string of military projects that had stalled under the previous left-leaning Congress government, in part over corruption scandals.

Modi has also worked to shore up regional alliances since he came to power in India, which has a longstanding territorial dispute with China over a remote Himalayan region.

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Modi, a hardline nationalist premier, wants to end India's status as the world's number one defence importer by instead manufacturing defence equipment locally. His government has lifted the cap on foreign investment in the defence industry to 49% and pushed tie ups between foreign and local companies.

The deal comes as Modi heads this week to New York, where he hopes to meet US President Barack Obama ahead of the United Nations General Assembly. He also travels to Silicon Valley on the West Coast, seeking to promote his country as open for business to help revive the Indian economy.

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The deal for the Apaches was "hybrid", with one contract to be signed with Boeing for the helicopters and the other with the US government for its weapons and radars, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

COMMENTS (8)

ABK Ind | 8 years ago | Reply @Ussamah Ahmed: Request you to please go through independent Interviews given by Pakistani ex generals right from 1965 to 1998, to independent media where your ex generals have clearly admitted that the wars & infiltration were initiated to globalize the Kashmir issue.
notbhartibutkeralite | 8 years ago | Reply Hi Pakistanis and Bharts.You are one people.Pls dont fight.Just become one and move on folks.We would like to move on too.
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