NEWS

Bids soon for 126 combat jets
February 8, 2007, The Political and Business Daily

India will soon invite bids from aviation companies for the purchase of 126 combat jets, a deal valued around $10 billion. This was disclosed to newspersons by defence minister AK Antony here today. "The request for proposals is almost in the final stage. I can assure you it will be at the earliest," he said.

India, which has one of the biggest air forces in the world, wants to replace its ageing MiG-21s and British Jaguar planes, prompting aviation firms to flock to air show here.

The 126-plane deal has attracted interest from European players like France's Dassault which is promoting its Rafale fighter and Sweden's Saab, eager to sell its JAS-39 Gripen.

The Russians are pushing their cutting-edge MiG-35, which they have brought to the air show. Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet and Lockheed Martin's F-16 are also competing for the contract.

Earlier Defence Minister opened the Aero India international aero-space and defence exposition at the Indian Air Force station at Yalahanka. Addressing the delegates of over 500 Indian and foreign companies attending the five-day event, Antony said with the advantage of global outsourcing now established, Indian defence industry has a lot to offer through its products and platforms, assemblies, sub-assemblies and components that are competitively priced.

The participating companies can benefit from the large availability of skilled manpower as India is in the process of acquiring fresh capabilities for all three wings of its armed forces to optimise their operational effectiveness, Antony said.

"India is gearing up to play a more dominant role in the 21st century not only in Asia but also in the world. The challenges are two-fold - first, our national strategy must keep our territorial sovereignty and integrity secure.

"Our vision for the defence sector is to make it globally competitive and best in the business. At the same time, we want to ensure self-reliance in our defence preparedness," he said. Noting that India has taken several steps to upgrade the technological capabilities of its public and private sectors to manufacture superior items, Antony said a committee has been set up to identify "Raksha Udyog Ratnas". This panel will participate in the development of major defence platforms and play the role of system integrators of large weapon systems and platforms.

Antony said he would like to remind the defence industry of the saying: "Think global, act local". "The industry should keep a close relationship with our armed forces and Defence Research and Development Organisation." he remarked.