Article Posted on : - Jul 22, 2014

A file photo of India's first US-built military transport aircraft 'C130J'

WASHINGTON (BNS): The US Department of Defence has announced a foreign military sales defence contract worth $564.7 million for six additional C130J Super Hercules military transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force.

The contract includes funding for field service representatives to work in India for three years, providing post-delivery support following the delivery of the first aircraft built by Lockheed Martin.

The total cumulative face value of the contract will be worth nearly $2.06 billion to Lockheed.

Work will be performed at Marietta, Georgia, and is expected to be completed by 30 April 2020, the DoD said.

The proposal to procure the additional six C-130J Super Hercules special operations transport aircraft from the US was taken at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in 2013.

The Indian Air Force has already inducted six C-130J-30 Super Hercules aircraft which are deployed at the Hindan air base near New Delhi.

On 28 March this year an IAF C-130J crashed while practicing a tactical operation along with another C-130J Super Hercules aircraft after taking off from Agra.

The new C-130Js will be based at Panagarh, West Bengal, near the headquarters of the Indian Army's 17 Strike Corp.