A global tender is invited on March 03 next month for 125 new fighter jets worth $10.2 billion in which global players like Swedish Gripen,Euro-fighter typhoon,France Dessault Rafale,Britain BAE system,US Lockheed F-16 and F/A-18, Boeing,Raytheon,Northrop Grumman,Lockheed Martin are all vying to sell fighters jets to India.
Global aeronautical and weapons manaufacturing companies eye on the ever increasing Indian weapons shopping list estimated to touch 5 to 8 Billion dollars a year in near future.
U.S. sources, Gates is also likely to offer the Indian Navy the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier - to be decommissioned in 2008 - for free, provided India agrees to purchase 65 of the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet for on board deployment.If New Delhi accepts the offer, it could seriously damage India”s bilateral military cooperation with Russia, which is currently modernizing the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy.

The $1.5-billion Admiral Gorshkov sale is one of Russia”s largest individual military deals with India. The ship is undergoing modernization work at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk, in northern Russia, but the overhaul has been slow and suffered a number of setbacks, including a lack of financing and poor project management.

This would also deliver a huge blow to the Russian MiG aircraft manufacturer, which is promoting its advanced MiG-35 aircraft in a tender for up to 200 multi-role fighters, announced by India last year.

Principal bidders include the Russian Mig-35, the French Dassault Rafale, the U.S. F-16 and F/A 18 Super Hornet, the Swedish Gripen, and the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Boeing, world’s largest maker of commercial jetliners, has said it is “actively pursuing” the sale of multi-role combat aircraft to India, which is to spend a huge 30 billion dollars on defence procurement in the next five years.”We are actively pursuing the sale of F-18 Superhornets,” Rick Stephens, Senior Vice President of The Boeing Company, said at the FICCI-US Indian Business Council summit here.

The F-18s are in the race with F-16s, Eurofighter Typhoon and Russian jet fighters for Indian Air Force’s 126 combat aircraft deal. Stephens said Boeing was also keen to sell to India, P-8I maritime patrol aircraft, Chinooks and Apache helicopters, and C-17s heavylift aircraft.He said India was emerging as a country of strategic importance to the Chicago-based company not because it offers a growing defence and lucrative aviation market to Boeing. “We want to see India become a critical link in our global supply chain,” Stephens said.

He said that Boeing, in partnership with Air India, would also build a 75-million-dollar Alteon pilot training centre in India. Alteon, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boeing, supports airline training needs by offering flight and maintenance training in the 100-plus seat aircraft category.Boeing has recently forged a partnership with the Tatas on both the defence and commercial sides of its business.

It entered into an agreement last month in which the Tatas will build floor beams for the 787 plane using new technology with advanced titanium and composite materials, a step in reducing the weight of the airplane.The company has announced a joint venture with the Tatas.

The JV will encompass over 500 million dollars of defence-related aerospace component work in India for export to Boeing and its international customers. “Boeing has established a strong presence in India and is not shy to say that we are seeking to become India’s preferred aerospace partner and provider, Stephens said.He said that India, which is growing by 8-9 per cent in GDP, is a huge market and inward investments, including those in aviation, defence and aerospace, are growing in the country.Boeing has sold 153 commercial aircraft valued at 23 billion dollars to India in the last three years.
India and Russia signed a watershed agreement for the joint development and production of the futuristic fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGA).
Russia and India also signed an agreement on joint production of spare parts for Su-30 Flanker fighters.Last week, Moscow and New Delhi signed a $1.6 billion contract for the supply of 40 Russian Su-30 fighter assembly sets to
India by 2010 as a compliment to the contract on licensed production of
140 Su-30MKIs in India, which was signed in December 2000.