NEW DELHI, 20 March 2004 — India yesterday signed a contract to buy 66 Hawk Advance Jet Trainers worth $1.63 billion from British Aerospace (BAE) for its technology-starved air force, the world’s fourth largest.
The deal signals an end to more than 20 years of dithering by the Indian Air Force (IAF) over trainers to graduate new pilots to its mainstay MiG-21 fighter jets, which have been dubbed “flying coffins” due to frequent crashes. An official statement said the deal was signed by Indian Defense Secretary Ajay Prasad and British High Commissioner to India Michael Arthur.
“A memorandum of understanding between the government of India and the government of the United Kingdom was concluded for the effective and uninterrupted implementation of the contracts regarding acquisition of 66 Advance Jet Trainers from British Aerospace System and other equipment manufacturers of United Kingdom,” it said.
Arthur later told reporters that Britain will train the first batch of 75 Indian pilots for the Hawks, which can also be configured for combat. The Indian statement said the British government has agreed that 24 Hawk jets will be supplied by the BAE in “flyaway” condition.
“The remaining 42 aircraft will be produced in India by (state-owned) Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) under license from BAE,” it said.
The agreement also said Britain has pledged not to create hurdles in the way of the manufacture of Hawks, its weapons systems or components under license in India.
“The United Kingdom government gives assurance that it would take reasonable steps within the international law to avoid unjustified prohibitions placed by other countries on the supply by BAE and other associated British equipment manufacturers,” a clause on counterguarantees said.
An array of US-led Western sanctions imposed on India following New Delhi’s 1998 nuclear weapons tests crippled the IAF’s fleet of Sea King helicopters and hit local production under license of spare parts of British-designed Jaguar bomber jets.
The Indian government approved the Hawk purchase in September last year but the contract came up for renewed scrutiny over the accounting.
The deal ran into rough weather earlier this month when BAE accused HAL of making “an oversight” in not accounting for the bill New Delhi would have to foot for tooling up its factory to assemble the Hawks.
The figure cited in the oversight varied between $15 million and $50 million.
Yesterday’s agreement spoke of a British assurance to keep tabs on prices and costs in the future, as well as stringent certification of products offered to India by the British aircraft manufacturers.
“The MOU will remain in force for 25 years, ensuring long-term product support to this project,” the statement said, adding that on its expiry the pact will be automatically extended for another 10 years unless a dispute arises.
