NEW DELHI — India is negotiating with BAE Systems? is this correct? to purchase 20 additional Hawk Mk-132 jet trainers and the talks are currently in the Contract Negotiations Stage, according to a says an official release of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) release.
Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told the Indian Parliament on Aug.ust 7 that a "A "case for the procurement of 20 additional Hawk Mk-132 aircraft is at Contract Negotiation stage. Formation Aerobatics will be one of the tasks carried out by these aircraft. Simulator is an effective training tool only for certain elements of formation flying. But Simulator cannot be substituted for the actual aircraft for training," according to the says the MoD official release.
An MoD sources said that the deal is likely to be concluded within in the next two to three months, as nthe Contract Negotiations are proceeding fast.
The purchase of an additional 20 Hhawks, at a cost of more than over $333 million, was cleared in 2010, but the negotiations were had been derailed following misplacement of relevant files.
India has contracted to purchase 123 Hawks, with the first order of 66 placed in 2004 by the previous National Democratic Alliance government. The second order for the purchase of 57 Hawk trainers was placed in July 2010.
The Indian government signed a $1.7 billion contract with BAE in 2004 under which 66 Hawks were to be acquired. Out of that order, 24 have been procured from BAE in fly-away condition and the remaining 42 assembled and license-produced at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
Email: vraghuvanshi@defensenews.com
Vivek Raghuvanshi is the India correspondent for Defense News.
