New Delhi - The manufacturers of the Eurofighter Typhoon jet Thursday invited India to join them in building the multi-role fighter - a move that may help Eurofighter's chances in securing the country's 10-billion-dollar order for 126 combat aircraft. Four leading European aerospace companies, Britain's BAE Systems PLC, Italy's Alenia Finmeccanica and the German and Spanish units of the European Aeronautic Defence & Space Company, EADS Germany and EADS Casa, are part of the Eurofighter consortium.
"As part of our industrial cooperation offer, we invite India to become a member of the successful Eurofighter family," said Bernhard Gerwert, CEO of Military Air Systems, an integrated activity of EADS Defence and Security.
"India is our partner of choice and we are interested in long-lasting political, industrial and military relations which will be based on a win-win partnership," he said.
Gerwert was speaking at a high-level event organized by EADS in New Delhi which was attended by the envoys of Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain.
EADS officials said India was the first non-European country to be invited to be a partner of the Eurofighter programme, but it would be allowed to join only if it chose Eurofighter for the order.
India's Defence Ministry has issued formal invitations to six major aerospace companies for supplying 126 fighters under its Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) order, which is the country's biggest-ever defence deal.
"We have a strong and committed international team and we will make sure that Eurofighter will be a major player in a fair and transparent competition," Gerwert said, adding that EADS will deliver the Eurofighter proposal on April 28.
Besides EADS, Lockheed and Boeing from the US, Russia's MiG, France's Dassault Rafale and Sweden's Gripen are in contention for the deal, local media outlets reported.
Later on Thursday, Boeing said that it had submitted a detailed proposal offering its advanced F/A-18E/F Super Hornet as part of the MMRCA competition.
"Our proposal team worked diligently to fully understand and meet the requirements set out by the Indian Ministry of Defense (MOD). We are offering India the best-value, most advanced and proven multirole combat fighter in production today," Jim Albaugh, president and CEO, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) said in a statement.
India is in a major process of modernizing its defence forces, and several deals are in the pipeline, making it one of the world's leading arms' importers.
The Indian Air Force, which flies Russian-made MiG jets, French Mirages and British Jaguars, is seeking to strengthen its fighter squadron fleet, which has fallen to the lowest-ever level of 32 squadrons from the sanctioned 45 squadrons.
According to defence analysts, India's Defence Ministry will be spending more than 25 billion dollars over the next five years to procure weapons and defence equipment from foreign countries.
Besides the MMRCA order, India is also planning to buy 384 helicopters in a deal potentially worth 2 billion dollars. Another major deal would be for the purchase of 400 new 155-mm guns upgraded to 52 calibre.
