The White House late on June 26 announced the potential sale of several military platforms and related systems to India, including an additional C-17 transport aircraft, attack helicopters and a maritime variant of the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle.
On June 26, the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said the U.S. State Department has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale of one Boeing [BA] C-17 aircraft to India for $366.2 million, including four Pratt & Whitney F-117-PW-100 engines, an Orbital ATK [OA] AN/AAR-47 Missile Warning System, a BAE Systems AN/ALE-47 countermeasures dispensing system, a Raytheon [RTN] AN/APX-119 identification friend or foe transponder, precision navigation equipment, spares and other related support. Pratt & Whitney is a division of United Technologies Corp. [UTX].
DSCA said it has delivered the required notification to Congress of the possible sale.
India already has 10 C-17s that it ordered in 2010. The additional transport is the last one Boeing produced and is stored in a company facility in San Antonio, Texas, a company spokesman told sister publication Defense Daily on June 27. Boeing ended C-17 production more than a year ago.
The Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters mentioned in a White House fact sheet refers to a potential $1.4 billion FMS deal proposed by the Pentagon in Dec. 2010 for 22 AH-64D Block III Longbow variants of the helicopters.
The planned deal for the Apaches also included engines made by General Electric [GE], various radar system, Hellfire and Stinger missiles, target acquisition and pilot night vision sensors, with Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Raytheon responsible for the various systems and missiles.
The White House announcement referred to the Sea Guardian UAV, which is a version of the General Atomics-built Predator aircraft. A proposed sale of the Sea Guardian hasn’t been announced by the Pentagon or State Department although media reports have but the number of aircraft at 22.
The potential sales were announced the same day that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with President Donald Trump at the White House.
The White House fact sheet says completion of the equipment sales “will further enhance the capabilities of the Indian Armed Forces and provide additional opportunities for interoperability,” adding that if the sales go through, they “would increase bilateral defense trade to nearly $19 billion, supporting thousands of United States jobs.”
India is also hosting a fighter aircraft competition in which the U.S. is offering Lockheed’s F-16 and Boeing’s F/A-18 aircraft.
The U.S. and India are currently working on a Defense Technology and Trade Initiative to strengthen collaboration on defense development and production programs. The technologies and platforms under discussion for potential co-development include India’s participation in the U.S. Future Vertical Lift program, the White House said.