Article Posted on : - Apr 20, 2010

RAF BAE Hawk T1 trainer. Photo: BAE Systems

LONDON (PTI): UK-based BAE Systems plans to sell 60 more Hawk trainer aircraft to India in a deal estimated to be worth Rs 3417 crore.

Currently talks are on and a deal would probably see state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics place an order for the aircraft with the global defence, security and aerospace company.

An agreement might be reached within the next few months, the Financial Times reported quoting industry sources.

India had earlier ordered 66 Hawk aircrafts from BAE in 2004 at a cost of about $1bn. Of these, 24 were built by BAE at its Brough plant in the UK's north-east. The remaining 42 are being manufactured under licence by HAL in India with the first Hawks now in service.

All the aircraft in the follow-up deal would also be built by HAL, the report said.

"India is a market in which we see several substantial future business opportunities spanning the air, land, naval and security sectors. This includes the potential sale of a further batch of up to 60 additional Hawk training aircraft," Al Garwood, BAE group business development director, said.

BAE is also about to seal a long-awaited armoured vehicle and artillery joint venture with Mahindra & Mahindra, the leading Indian truck maker.

It is also in talks with the Indian navy over the introduction of modular shipbuilding techniques, which allow ships to be built quickly and more safely than traditional methods within the confines of a shipyard's dry dock.

But the biggest prize of all would be a successful bid to supply 126 fighter aircrafts in a $10 billion deal to update India's ageing strike force.

BAE is part of a European defence consortium offering the Eurofighter Typhoon, the report said.