MoD clears additional purchases of C 130J aircraft,T 90 tanks

The order,worth over Rs 6,000 crore,will be executed by the Avadi Heavy Vehicles Factory.

The Defence Ministry on Friday afternoon cleared two major deals to purchase additional C 130J transport aircraft and manufacture additional T 90 main battle tanks that will cost the exchequer over Rs 10,000 crore.

Sources said the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC),headed by Defence Minister AK Antony,gave its go ahead for a purchase of six new C 130J Special Operations aircraft to add to the existing fleet of six planes that is operated by the Indian Air Force. The deal,which will be struck under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route from the US government,will now go for final clearance to the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) before it can be inked with US manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

However,there seems to be some confusion over the value of the deal. While sources in the defence ministry put the purchase at an estimated Rs 4,000 crore,a formal notification by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) to the US Congress has put the estimated cost of the aircraft and associated equipment at US $ 1.2 billion.

Story continues below this ad

The first order to purchase six C 130J aircraft inked in 2008 had also cost more than US$1 billion. All six aircrafts that had been ordered are currently in service and have been operating from the front,including a landing at the worlds highest airbase of Daulat Beg Oldie that is situated along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.

Another major deal cleared by the DAC is for the manufacturing of 235 additional T 90 tanks for the Indian Army. The order,worth over Rs 6,000 crore,will be executed by the Avadi Heavy Vehicles Factory that already has a license from Russia to manufacture T-90 tanks from kits purchased from Russia. A majority of the over 1,000 tanks that are currently in service are however imports from Russia due to delays in manufacturing them in India as transfer of technology issues were being sorted out.