Decision on Indo-US Defence Deals Today

Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to begin his trip to the United States from Thursday, all eyes are on whether the government will clear two defence deals with the US on Tuesday — for both attack and heavy-lift helicopters.

Speculation is rife that the proposed acquisition of 22 AH-64D Block-III Apache attack helicopters from US aviation giant Boeing for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and 15 Chinook Ch-47F heavy-lift helicopters, again from Boeing, for the IAF may be discussed for final approval at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).

The Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) cost for acquisition of the 22 Apache Attack Helicopters was originally pegged at `3,094 crore while the AoN for the Chinook helicopters was pegged at `2,468 crore. But the actual cost of the deal may be significantly higher.

While these helicopters are expected to go to the IAF, all subsequent acquisitions for attack helicopters are expected to be for the Army. The Army is pressing the government for urgent acquisition.

The government had earlier informed the Parliament that last year the US had topped the list of countries that sold defence equipment to India in the past three financial years pushing Russia to the second position.

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