New Delhi: US defence major Lockheed Martin
has bagged a deal expected to be worth over Rs 100 crore for
supplying laser-guided bombs (LGBs) for the Jaguar fighter
aircraft fleet in the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The IAF plans to induct more than 100 bunker-buster
LGBs for its Jaguar warplanes to destroy strongly fortified
enemy targets.
"We have emerged as the lowest bidders in the deal for
supplying LGBs to the IAF. We have offered our Paveway II LGBs
for the Jaguars and contract negotiations are on in this
direction," Lockheed Martin India head Roger Rose said
here.
The IAF had issued a global Request for Proposal (RFP)
for the purpose last year, and Lockheed Martin along with
Raytheon and an Israeli missile manufacturer had taken part in
the tender.
With their capability to pierce hard surfaces, the LGBs
can also be used to destroy enemy`s concrete runways and
fortified locations.
LGBs are guided projectiles that use lasers to strike
a designated target with greater accuracy than a gravity bomb
and were used with high accuracy by the IAF against Pakistani
Army posts during the Kargil war in 1999.
Around the same time, the US had supplied some Paveway
bombs to India which could be launched from the Jaguar and
Mirage 2000 planes for accurately striking enemy targets.
The earlier lot of the American bombs to the IAF was
supplied by Raytheon.
PTI
