Lockheed looking to supply wide range of defence equipment to India

New Delhi: American defence contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp, has said it is looking to supply the burgeoning Indian defence market with a variety of equipment including jet fighters and ships in deals potentially worth $20 billion.

Reports quote Roger Rose, chief executive of Lockheed's Indian operations, as saying that the company was looking at a wide gamut of equipment including naval frigates, air defence systems and helicopters.

Lockheed is looking at supplying seven ships to the Indian Navy, equipped with the Aegis naval air defence system. It was also bidding for the supply of 16 attack helicopters to the Indian Navy. In this regard he has mentioned that India is the first country outside the United States to be offered the MH-60R helicopters.

Lockheed will buy equipment worth $300 million from Indian firms for six C-130J military transport aircraft that it is manufacturing for the Indian Air Force under a contract worth about $1 billion.

For this order the company has said it will be sourcing equipment from top Indian companies. Under an industrial offsets requirement foreign companies are required to source atleast 30 per cent of their parts, materials and services from Indian providers.

It s estimated that India will look to spend more than $50 billion over the next five years to modernise its weapons systems.

It is already engaged in conducting field trials for the purchase of 126 fighter jets as part of an $11 billion, multi-role medium range combat aircraft (MMRCA) programme.

Lockheed has offered a variant of its F-16, dubbed the F-16IN Super Viper, for the $11 billion MMRCA tender.