New Delhi: India is offering to buy hundreds of fighter planes from foreign manufacturers — as long as the jets are made in India and with a local partner, air force officials say.
A deal for 200 single-engine planes produced in India — which the air force says could rise to 300 as it fully phases out ageing Soviet-era aircraft — could be worth anything from $13-$15 billion, experts say, potentially one of the country’s biggest military aircraft deals.
After a deal to buy high-end Rafale planes from France’s Dassault was scaled back to just 36 jets last month, the Indian Air Force is desperately trying to speed up other acquisitions and arrest a fall in operational strength, now a third less than required to face both China and Pakistan.
But Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration wants any further military planes to be built in India with an Indian partner to kickstart a domestic aircraft industry, and end an expensive addiction to imports.
Lockheed Martin said it is interested in setting up a production line for its F-16 plane in India for not just the Indian military, but also for export.
And Sweden’s Saab has offered a rival production line for its Gripen aircraft, setting up an early contest for one of the biggest military plane deals in play.
“The immediate shortfall is 200. That would be the minimum we would be looking at,” said an air officer briefed on the Make-in-India plans under which a foreign manufacturer will partner local firms to build the aircraft with technology transfer.
India’s defence ministry has written to several companies asking if they would be willing to set up an assembly line for single-engine fighter planes in India and the amount of technology transfer that would happen, another government source said.
“We are testing the waters, testing the foreign firms’ willingness to move production here and to find out their expectations,” the person said.
Operational gaps
India’s air force originally planned for 126 Rafale twin-engine fighters from Dassault, but the two sides could not agree on the terms of local production with a state-run Indian firm and settled for 36 planes in a fly-away condition.
Adding to the military’s problems is India’s three-decade effort to build a single-engine fighter of its own which was meant to be the backbone of the air force. Only two of those Light Combat Aircraft, called Tejas, have been delivered to the air force which has ordered 140 of them.
The Indian Air Force is down to 32 operational squadrons compared with the 45 it has said are necessary, and in March the vice chief Air Marshal B.S. Dhanoa told parliament’s defence committee that it didn’t have the operational strength to fight a two front war against China and Pakistan.
Jet makers respond
Saab said it was ready to not only produce its frontline Gripen fighter in India, but help build a local aviation industry base.
“We are very experienced in transfer of technology — our way of working involves extensive cooperation with our partners to establish a complete ecosystem, not just an assembly line,” said Jan Widerström, chairman and managing director, Saab India Technologies.
He confirmed Saab had received the letter from the Indian government seeking a fourth generation fighter. A source close to the company said that while there was no minimum order set in stone for it to lay down a production line, they would expect to build at least 100 planes at the facility.
Lockheed Martin said it had responded to the defence ministry’s letter with an offer to transfer the entire production of its F-16 fighter to India.
“Exclusive F-16 production in India would make India home to the world’s only F-16 production facility, a leading exporter of advanced fighter aircraft, and offer Indian industry the opportunity to become an integral part of the world’s largest fighter aircraft supply chain,” Abhay Paranjape, National Executive for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Business Development in India said in an email.
US top supplier
Lockheed’s offer comes on the back of expanding US-India military ties in which Washington has emerged as India’s top arms supplier in recent years, ousting old ally Russia.
Earlier this year Boeing also offered India its twin-engine F/A-18 Hornets, but the level of technology transfer was not clear.
India has never previously attempted to build a modern aircraft production line, whether military or civilian. State-run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has assembled Russian combat jets including the Su-30, but these are under licensed production.
“We have never had control over technology. This represents the most serious attempt to build a domestic base. A full or a near-full tech transfer lays the ground for further development,” said retired Indian air marshal M. Matheswaran, a former adviser at HAL.
He said the Indian government would be looking at producing at least 200 fighters, and then probably some more, to make up for the decades of delay in modernising the air force.

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Not like Euro bond, China bond my country is pursuing as if the life of this country depend on it. With this deal Indian government will get to train there citizens, they will also give employment to the citizens directly and indirectly. This is the best deal I've heard in recent time.
Moderator, please do the needful may be it will get to the appropriate people.

obongtunji:
Not like Euro bond, China bond my country is pursuing as if the life of this country depend on it. With this deal Indian government will get to train there citizens, they will also give employment to the citizens directly and indirectly. This is the best deal I've heard in recent time.
Moderator, please do the needful may be it will get to the appropriate people.

Dont expect this 8n front page. Its not about tonto dike. Os so so ans so buy car

Ejanla07:



Dont expect this 8n front page. Its not about tonto dike. Os so so ans so buy car

You are correct, I can't imagine this topic is not on front page yet.

I dont agree with u. Nigeria cannot be putting mouth everywhere, that is not how Government functions. Nigeria lacks both the infrastructure and technical expertise for weapons and aircraft manufacture. We have not even been able to manufacture and acquire our own indiginous car let alone aircraft.

Nigeria should focus on where it has comparative advantage, which is in agriculture, petroleum and solid minerals. We must not do things just because others are doing it. Thats my view.

This is what a proactive government determined to improve its country does. Meet needs by involving and promoting local solutions; even international expertise is brought home to favour and enhance domestic operations.

@blackpanda, u really cannot absolve the Nigerian government from time immemorial of deliberately sabotaging our development due to greed and ineptitude. You say our expertise in ur opinion lies in agriculture, petroleum and solid minerals. Can u explain why till now from the 50's when crude was discovered, we are still dependent on international oil companies to even tell us how much we produce and export till date?

Agriculture yet till now, rather than imbibing international best practices for profitable yield and manufacturing, we are still here trying to smuggle laws to maintain and preserve archaic, nomadic lifestyle of a certain sect! Solid minerals? Don't get me started!

The so called expertise u say Nigeria has that should then preclude her from 'putting mouth everywhere' did it come from thin air? Was it not introduced and developed from a point? What has happened to those? Leadership has been dead in this country and there is no defending it please! With the technology and manufacturing nucleus in the SE and in d 'computer villages' dotting the Nigerian landscape why has government not 'put mouth' there?

U talk of inability to produce even indigenous cars, how much support has Innoson received? Rather he's been starved of forex so much that he's had to suspend production and what has the government done? NOTHING! Please note, when others do good things and reap positive rewards, it is only natural that u seek that knowledge and even improve on it where possible for ur own benefit so doing good n smart things that others do is no crime at all.

blackpanda:
I dont agree with u. Nigeria cannot be putting mouth everywhere, that is not how Government functions. Nigeria lacks both the infrastructure and technical expertise for weapons and aircraft manufacture. We have not even been able to manufacture and acquire our own indiginous car let alone aircraft.

Nigeria should focus on where it has comparative advantage, which is in agriculture, petroleum and solid minerals. We must not do things just because others are doing it. Thats my view.

[b]lol.
Indian is an agricultural giant. Probably the largest exporter of rice in the world. They already have comparative advantage in agriculture, But they know agriculture alone would not make them rich and prosperous.
Which is why they are looking to partner with tech giants to improve on their relatively crude domestic tech base, save forex and become a relevant global player. Technology and information is what makes a country rich not agriculture or mere resources.
Nigeria already has a domestic tech base in the south east. Though nascent but still functional.
Your president is borrrowing over $20b, yet does not see fit in counting those manufacturers as a priority by making lives easy for them like tax breaks, forex provisions, synergized rail and road systems linking these tech zones, and negotiating for them tech transfer with necessary global partners. His priority is building railways connecting kano to other arid northern zones with piss-poor productivity.
You and your president are not serious.
[/b]

freeze001:
This is what a proactive government determined to improve its country does. Meet needs by involving and promoting local solutions; even international expertise is brought home to favour and enhance domestic operations.

@blackpanda, u really cannot absolve the Nigerian government from time immemorial of deliberately sabotaging our development due to greed and ineptitude. You say our expertise in ur opinion lies in agriculture, petroleum and solid minerals. Can u explain why till now from the 50's when crude was discovered, we are still dependent on international oil companies to even tell us how much we produce and export till date?

Agriculture yet till now, rather than imbibing international best practices for profitable yield and manufacturing, we are still here trying to smuggle laws to maintain and preserve archaic, nomadic lifestyle of a certain sect! Solid minerals? Don't get me started!

The so called expertise u say Nigeria has that should then preclude her from 'putting mouth everywhere' did it come from thin air? Was it not introduced and developed from a point? What has happened to those? Leadership has been dead in this country and there is no defending it please! With the technology and manufacturing nucleus in the SE and in d 'computer villages' dotting the Nigerian landscape why has government not 'put mouth' there?

U talk of inability to produce even indigenous cars, how much support has Innoson received? Rather he's been starved of forex so much that he's had to suspend production and what has the government done? NOTHING!

I dont know what that rubbish u typed means. Were u just trying to insult a tribe or what. You keep blaming govt, but are u ursef ready to go to farm?? Pls if u cant be constructive, then be quiet!

India is working. The question is , do we have manufacturers of military hardwares in Nigeria? You see why we can't just do what the Indians have done? Except, if we are able to bring one down here who will be manufacturing and selling their wares across Africa or west African subregion .





Ajaokuta still company must work for this to be achieved- the raw materials need to be locally sourced.

Even in areas whr Nigeria ve no advantage, the government can form companies and put up in d stock exchange who will in turn sign deal with foreign manufacturers enhancing technology transfer....



Thjs is whr i credit innoson. He is not afraid to enter a new venture. .

blackpanda:


I dont know what that rubbish u typed means. Were u just trying to insult a tribe or what. You keep blaming govt, but are u ursef ready to go to farm?? Pls if u cant be constructive, then be quiet!

Of course you cannot understand, ur comprehension levels are pathetically low otherwise what is not constructive about demanding advanced mechanised farming rather than preserving archaic, nomadic lifestyles through federal might? Is that the kind of statutory intervention the FG should be getting involved in? U couldn't address every other thing I wrote it's to jump to d defence of a tribe...for real?

If I don't blame the government that has every machinery at its disposal and is entrusted with power to make beneficial laws and decisions on behalf of the citizens then who will I blame? Do u know whether I am involved in some form of agriculture? How much support have the existing farmers received and how has it translated to material and tangible improvement?