$30 billion: Arms bill for five years

[blain2]

By clubbing the order with purchases of other equipment, India will gain "superior effectiveness and affordability," Lockheed Martin said in a statement.

Affordability is possible, effectiveness?...hmm that is an interesting sales pitch..

Most American products, in all fairness, give the biggest bang for the buck...so from a quality standpoint, you can't go wrong with the American hardware...political interference, unreliable supply of spares etc. is the real challenge here.

 

[extinct]

I guess soon Pakistan will have to pick its corner (and this time bloody well stick to it), the sooner we damn the US armament the better.

This carrot and stick, that bait and switch is part of US policy and soon Pakistan will be left alone, once again a pariah.

Either we start opening "call centers" and cheap "software sweat shops" thus intimately entangling the US corporations (which directly saved the Indian a*s in 1998), or Pakistan stays a "tool" in the US "tool box". Plugged in (with aid money), used and then stowed away until next time.

miserable... :wall:

 

[Neo]

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Boeing negotiating sale of 12 Chinooks with India

NEW DELHI: Boeing Co. is negotiating the sale of 12 Chinook CH-47 military transport helicopters to India’s air force, a senior company official said Friday.

The cost of the aircraft plus support and training programs totals about US$600 million, said Dean Millsap, the Asia Pacific director of Boeing Integrated Business Development, a division of Chicago-based Boeing.

“We have held unofficial meetings with the Indian Air Force officials, but haven’t got anything in writing,” Millsap said told reporters in Bangalore, according to Dow Jones newswires.

Millsap, speaking on the sidelines of an air show in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, said the company expects the Indian government to ask it for a formal proposal in the second quarter of 2007. Once the proposal is made, it would take 20 to 34 months for the contract to be signed - a pace dictated by India’s defence procurement policy, he said.

“However, we hope that the contract will be signed within 20 to 21 months,” he said.

The US$600 million dollar project will include the cost of the aircraft, support systems, logistics and training programs, he said.

“The cost of the aircraft itself is about 18-20 percent of the total project cost,” he said. The Chinook is a transport helicopter primarily used to move troops and equipment.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\10\story_10-2-2007_pg4_15