Boeing optimistic about India

[illusion8]

Singapore.
Boeing did not win the Indian MMRCA tender with its F/A 18 E/F Super Hornet but the company continues to be enthusiastic about various Indian military modernisation programmes.


Mark Kronenberg, Vice President International Business Development for Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said that Boeing was looking forward to supplying a larger number of C 17 strategic airlifters and Apache Longbow helicopters to the Indian Air Force (IAF) as well as the Boeing P8-I Long Range Maritime Aircraft (LRMR) and its Medium Range Maritime Aircraft (MRMR) to the Indian Navy.

The technology on board these aircraft, he told India Strategic, would be the best and unbeatable.

The Indian Navy has already decided to buy the 737-based P8-Is for its LRMR requirement while for the MRMR requirement, a tender is due to be floated in the second half of 2012.

Kronenberg said that while Boeing was disappointed that its Super Hornet had missed the selection in IAF’s Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft trials, the company was hopeful of winning in India’s several other programmes for military and Homeland Security requirements. Boeing is the biggest civil and military aerospace company in the world with proven and safe technologies. India has a big modernization programme to replace its vintage systems and Boeing can fill in many requirements, both in terms of technologies and costs.

“India is a very promising market for us and our relationship with India is not based on one -MMRCA - transaction,” he observed.

In fact, Boeing has been upbeat ever since it won major deals for F 15 Eagle, Apache helicopters and other systems from Saudi Arabia recently.

In India also, its AH-64D Longbow Apache is the sole contender remaining in the two-vendor competition. IAF is yet to announce the winner but Russia, which had fielded Mi 28, has already announced that it has lost.

Kronenberg said that he was awaiting word from the Indian Air Force, which had placed an RfP (or tender) for 22 combat helicopters. All the trials, including radar and weapon firing demonstrations, had been conducted and “we expect to hear some positive announcement in the first half of 2012.”

Probably in the next financial year.

As per the RfP, deliveries are to start within 36 months from the signing of the contract. “We have started our discussions on the 30 percent offsets and have made a list of our potential suppliers and collaborators,” he added.

“Boeing is also in the fray to supply 15 CH 47 Chinook helicopters. The Chinook contract is at an industrial proposal discussion stage which includes modification to the helicopters to Indian specifications,” said Kronenberg.

As for other countries, Kronenberg said that Boeing sees strong opportunities in the international maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) market.

About the Indian Navy's MRMR requirement, he said that capabilities on board the P8-I could be scaled appropriately. But with a common platform, data sharing and maintenance would be much easier than with two different systems.

The Indian Navy has just been granted approval for nine MRMR aircraft by the Ministry of Defence. Top naval officials have told India Strategic that it could take upto the end of the year to float the tender.

In lighter vein, Boeing officials are describing the 737 platform based MRMR as a "diet P8-I." Boeing has been working to configurate it for the past couple of years.

Notably, India’s defence market is worth about US$ 235 billion over the next 10-15 years, according to a paper submitted at a recent defence acquisitions seminar at the New Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA)..
© India Strategic

 

[karan21]

i really want india to do any more big deal like mmrca with foreign country. this should be the last deal of that size ever. now we should make our planes ourselves. enough is enough

 

[illusion8]

meanwhile on the civil aviation side:

India and Boeing spar over delay compensation

Officials from the Indian government and Boeing, the US aircraft manufacturer, have sparred over compensation for the late delivery of the company's 787 Dreamliner aircraft to Air India.

"Two weeks back they [Boeing] agreed to pay a little over $500m," Prashant Sukul, joint secretary at India's Ministry of Civil Aviation, told reporters, adding that Air India had pushed for even greater sums.

But speaking at a conference in New York on Wednesday, Jim Albaugh, chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, appeared to directly challenge that claim.

"I think if we settle for $500m somebody would have told me. We don't comment on deals that we have done, but I can tell you that we are not writing anybody a cheque for $500m," he said,

Mr Albaugh's comments left open the possibility that Boeing might have offered Air India indirect compensation, such as discounts on the price of future aircraft purchases.

Doug Harned, with Bernstein Research, noted earlier in the year that compensation would most likely be provided to customers as price reductions on 737 or 777 aircraft, which would protect the profitability of the programme but not of Boeing's overall business.
Boeing delivers first 787 Dreamliner
Boeing delivers first 787 Dreamliner

"If deliveries slip, compensation to customers should rise," he wrote.

Since 2004 Boeing has received 873 orders for 787s from about 60 customers, making it the company's fastest-selling wide body jet, but the programme has been plagued by delays.

The first aircraft was finally delivered to All Nippon Airways, the launch customer, in September 2011, more than three years behind schedule. Boeing is ramping up production and plans to build five a month later this year and 10 a month by 2013.

The spat underscores the high stakes involved for all parties. Airlines have had to postpone adding certain potentially profitable routes, leading to demands for compensation, while Boeing has been struggling to get finished aircraft out of its hangars on time and on budget.

For its part, Air India had been seeking at least $1bn compensation after placing an order for 27 of the 787 aircraft in 2005, worth $5.2bn at list prices.

The delays to the twin-aisle 787 stem from the complexity of its supply chain and from challenges associated with its innovative use of carbon composites in the fuselage and wings, which make the jet lighter.

Demand for the aircraft has been strong because the combination of composites and new, efficient engines mean the 787 is supposed to burn 20 per cent less fuel compared with the Boeing 767, which the new aircraft in effect replaces.

Nick Cunningham, with Agency Partners, said several of Boeing's initial customers for the 787 were likely to receive compensation for late delivery of the aircraft. "Early customers will be getting compensation for very substantial delays," he said.

ANA said last year that it had already received some compensation, although it declined to provide details.

India and Boeing spar over delay compensation - CNN.com

So, their on time deliveries are a myth.

Also Boeing's fleet of lawyers will ensure that the compensation is also a myth and will never translate into actual money or benefit for the economic loss sustained.

 

[Nishan_101]

I think they are also interested in selling there P-8I and C-17s to a number like 30 of each, which might be true till 2022.