New Delhi: India on Monday signed a nearly USD 3&nbsp;billion deal for purchase of 22 Apache attack helicopters and&nbsp;15 Chinook heavy-lift choppers with American aviation giant&nbsp;Boeing and the US government.
The first helicopter is likely to be handed over to India&nbsp;in the next three to four years.
"The contract for purchase of 22 Apache and 15 Chinook&nbsp;helicopters were signed here today," Defence Ministry&nbsp;spokesperson Sitanshu Kar said.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2014/aug/Chopper-crash-o.jpg" alt="Representational pic" width="650" height="396" /> Representational pic
The contract has a clause to place follow-on orders for&nbsp;11 more Apaches and seven extra Chinooks.
The helicopter deal has survived over 10 price validity&nbsp;extensions from the American side with the last one being for&nbsp;a month as desired by India.&nbsp;
While the Chinook helicopter deal is a direct one with&nbsp;the US firm, the one for Apache is a hybrid.
A part of the Apache deal was signed with Boeing for the&nbsp;helicopter and the other with the US government, under Foreign&nbsp;Military Sales route, for its weapons, radars and electronic&nbsp;warfare suites.
Sources said the total cost of the contract will be&nbsp;around USD 3 billion.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had last week said that&nbsp;the contract, which will have a 30 per cent offset clause,&nbsp;will bring in business worth about USD 1 billion for the&nbsp;Indian defence industry.
Offset policy was first introduced as part of the Defence&nbsp;Procurement Procedure (DPP), 2005, under which a foreign&nbsp;company has to invest back a portion of the deal into India.&nbsp;The Cabinet Committee on Security had on September 22&nbsp;cleared the deal which had been hanging since 2013 when the&nbsp;cost negotiations were completed.
Many in the defence sector had expected the deal to be&nbsp;signed during the visit of US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter&nbsp;in June this year.
The US has been pushing for this contract as it will&nbsp;further bolster American presence in the burgeoning defence&nbsp;market of India.

India on Monday signed a nearly USD 3&nbsp;billion deal for purchase of 22 Apache attack helicopters and&nbsp;15 Chinook heavy-lift choppers with American aviation giant&nbsp;Boeing and the US government

India, US sign USD 3 billion deal for purchase of 22 Apache helicopters and 15 Chinook choppers

AAP MLA Somnath Bharti surrenders before police

India on Monday signed a nearly USD 3&nbsp;billion deal for purchase of 22 Apache attack helicopters and&nbsp;15 Chinook heavy-lift choppers with American aviation giant&nbsp;Boeing and the US government

India, US sign USD 3 billion deal for purchase of 22 Apache helicopters and 15 Chinook choppers

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Home / News / India News / Article / India, US sign USD 3 billion deal for purchase of 22 Apache helicopters and 15 Chinook choppers

India, US sign USD 3 billion deal for purchase of 22 Apache helicopters and 15 Chinook choppers

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