The Government of India has requested to buy the following items in support of a proposed direct commercial sale of six (6) AH-64E Apache helicopters:
-- fourteen (14) T700-GE-701D engines;
-- four (4) AN/APG-78 Fire Control Radars;
-- four (4) Radar Electronic Units (REU) Block III;
-- four (4) AN/APR-48B Modernized Radar Frequency Interferometers (M-RFI’s);
-- one hundred eighty (180) AGM-114L-3 Hellfire Longbow missiles;
-- ninety (90) AGM-114R-3 Hellfire II missiles;
-- two hundred (200) Stinger Block I-92H missiles;
-- seven (7) Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensors (MTADS-PNVS); and
-- fourteen (14) Embedded GPS Inertial Navigation Systems (EGI).
Also included are rockets, training and dummy missiles, 30mm cannons and ammunition, transponders, simulators, communication equipment, spare and repair parts, tools and test equipment, support equipment, repair and return support, personnel training and training equipment, publications and technical documentation, U.S. Government and contractor engineering and logistics support services, and other related elements of logistic and program support. The total estimated program cost is $930 million.
This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to strengthen the U.S.-Indian strategic relationship and to improve the security of an important partner which continues to be an important force for political stability, peace, and economic progress in South Asia.
The proposed sale is in conjunction with and in support of a proposed direct commercial sale of six (6) AH-64E Apache helicopters, and will strengthen India's ability to defend its homeland and deter regional threats. This support for the AH-64E will provide an increase in India's defensive capability to counter ground-armored threats and modernize its armed forces. India will have no difficulty absorbing the helicopters and support equipment into its armed forces.
The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.
The prime contractors will be Lockheed Martin Corporation, Orlando, FL; General Electric Company, Cincinnati, OH; Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors, Owego, NY; Longbow Limited Liability Corporation, Orlando, FL; and Raytheon Company, Tucson, AZ. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale.
Implementation of this proposed sale will require U.S. Government or contractor representatives to travel to India for a period of one week at a time to conduct a detailed discussion of the various aspects of the hybrid program with Government of India representatives. Additional travel will be required for equipment de-processing/fielding, system checkout and new equipment training and Contractor Furnished Service Representatives (CFSR) for a period of thirty months.
There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale.
This notice of a potential sale is required by law and does not mean the sale has been concluded.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The US government does not normally get involved in commercial exports of weapons, apart from delivering export licenses.
However, India will only buy weapons from foreign governments, and not directly from the manufacturers, to avoid irregularities and corruption.
The Pentagon got around this difficulty by splitting the order into helicopters (direct commercial sale by Lockheed) and everything else, including engines, avionics and weapons, to be supplied via the Foreign Military Sales program.
This explains why this notification only covers “Support for Direct Commercial Sale” of the helicopters, and not the helicopters themselves, whose cost should be added to the $930 million indicated above to determine the final cost to India
At $930 million, the items described above work out to $155 million for each AH-64E.)
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