|
|
|
Subject:
India Delays Fighter Bid
Softwar
2/29/2008 9:03:07 AM
|
link
India has extended a deadline for global military aviation giants to bid to sell 126 fighter jets worth as much as 12 billion dollars, the government said Thursday.
ADVERTISEMENT
The announcement of the two-month extension comes after reports that one or more bidders had sought additional time. The deadline had been set for March 3. India floated the global tender for the fighter jets last August and said six contenders were on a short list.
A defence ministry spokesman confirmed to AFP that some of the contenders had at the last minute sought more time to finalise their offers.
"Our proposal to offer Super Hornets to India is complete," Boeing Integrated Defence Systems spokesman Chris Chadwick said in a statement to AFP. "We are ready with a fully compliant proposal and will submit it three days early."
US-based aerospace firm Lockheed Martin, which is offering its F-16s to the technology-hungry Indian airforce, said last week it could meet the deadline.
"We have sought no extension and plan to meet the deadline," company vice president Orville Prins recently told reporters in New Delhi.
Russian manufacturers were not immediately available for comment and a spokesman from EADS, the European consortium selling Typhoon Eurofighter jets, said it would issue a statement later Thursday.
Industry sources said at least two rivals called for the extra time in a bid to bypass a military import policy which has been labelled "restrictive" by international arms firms.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Latest
News |
Most
Read |
Hot
Topics |
|
|
|
