Boeing offers proposal for naval Reconnaissance aircraft

Bangalore, May 25 (UNI) Aviation major Boeing has pitched for the Indian Navy's requirement of eight long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft.

Boeing had proposed to offer a variant of its P-8A Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA), currently being developed for the US Navy.

Mr Rick Buck, Manager for P-8 International Programms, told newspersons here that the P-8 variant offered to India would provide significantly improved maritime patrol and reconnaissance capability.

Boeing was also keenly looking forward for the request for proposal (RFP) from the Indian Air Force for 126 advanced striker aircraft. The RFPs were expected to be out by the end of this month.

Boeing would offer its latgest F-18 variant 'Super Hornet' to the IAF, which was striving to augment its depleting fighter aircraft strength.

Besides the Super hornets, the others in consideration by IAF included the French Rafale, Swedish Saab, Russian Mig-29 the Eurofighter.

The deal was expected to be the largest deal estimated around eight to 10 billion Dollars. However, the price would depend on the configuration IAF proposed. The price of the Super hornet is currently 53 million US dollars.

If the IAF approved, India would be the first country outside the US to have Super hornets. However F-18s, numbering over 1700, were already in operation om the air forces of Canada, Australia, Kuwait, Spain, Finland, Switzerland and Malaysia.

Mr Buck said there was a possibility of a significant portion of the aircraft built under licence in India with the initial requirement being completely built in the US. Besides, there would also be offset that would provide an opportunity for India to develop the next generation aircraft. The aircraft that would be in offer included both single and tandem seaters.

Engaged in co-development, R and D, Software technology and technology development, Boeing was associated with companies such as TCS, Wipro, HCL and Infosys. It had also entered into a multi million-dollar collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science here, he added.

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