Boeing Preferred Vendor for India Helicopter Deal

By SANTANU CHOUDHURY
The Wall Street Journal

NEW DELHI--India has named Boeing Co. its preferred vendor to supply 37 heavy-lift and attack helicopters to the country's air force, Defense Minister A.K. Antony said Monday.

The air force--in separate deals--plans to acquire 15 Chinook CH-47F heavy-lift helicopters and 22 AH-64D Block-III Apache helicopters from the U.S. company, the minister told lawmakers in the lower house of parliament.

Mr. Antony said the "acceptance of necessity cost" for the Chinook helicopters is about 24.68 billion rupees ($457 million) and that of Apache helicopters is about 30.95 billion rupees ($573 million).

He didn't explain what forms the necessity cost.

The final terms of the contracts would depend on the outcome of the government's negotiations with Boeing, Mr. Antony said.

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