Zee Media Bureau/Himanshu Kapoor
New Delhi: India is looking to strengthen its military with upcoming defence deals with the US. The four major deals are said to be worth almost around $5 billion. A Rs 4,000 crore deal might be the first in the series of big contracts with the US in the coming months.
With defence spending increase of 5.2 per cent for 2013-14, India is looking to expand its arsenal significantly. In the last decade, the US has bagged deals worth Rs 45,000 crore in the Indian defence market. And it is waiting to sign Rs 30,000 crore in a couple of years.
The deals are said to include aircraft, helicopters and howitzers. Here’s a look at what major defence equipment India will buy from the US:
Super Hercules aircraft
The special operations aircraft was recently used in the flood-hit Uttarakhand for rescue operations. The plane has a range of around 4,000 kilometres and can fly up to 671 kph. It can carry a payload of 19,000 kg or about 100 troops.
IAF already has six C-130J Super Hercules planes and is planning to buy six more of these planes. The deals will amount to $1.2 billion.
Apache helicopters
The attack helicoper has a cruise speed of 265 kph and a range of 276 kilometres. It comes bristling with multi-barrel machine guns and missiles.
Indian Air Forces is looking to induct 22 Apache attack helicopter for a deal worth $1.4 billion.
M-777 howitzers
India has sought 145 Ultralight-weight Field Howitzer (UFH) air-mobile M-777 howitzers It weighs around 3,400 kilograms and has a range of between 24-40 kilometres. It can easily be deployed at high-altitude areas by a helicopter.
The M-777 howitzer is a towed 155 mm artillery piece, successor to the M-198 howitzer. The 39 caliber gun uses a digital fire-control system.
Boeing Chinook
This tandem rotor heavy life helicopter has a carrying capacity of 33-55 troops or 12,700 kilograms cargo at a cruising speed of 315 kilometres.
Its primary roles are troop movement, artillery placement and battlefield resupply. Numbers sought for this helicopter are 15.
