Washington, The United States has approved two possible Foreign Military Sales to India worth a combined $428.2 million, covering follow-on support for AH-64E Apache helicopters and sustainment support for M777A2 ultra-light howitzers, the State Department said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The proposed deals were announced by the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs in separate congressional notifications issued on May 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The larger of the two involves long-term sustainment support for M777A2 Ultra-Light Howitzers, valued at an estimated $230 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe US Department of State has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of India sustainment support for M777A2 Ultra-Light Howitzers,\u201d the notification said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the State Department, India has requested \u201clong-term sustainment support for M777A2 Ultra-Light Howitzers\u201d. The package includes \u201cancillary items; spares; repair and return; training; technical assistance; field service representative; depot capability; and other related elements of logistics and program support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The principal contractor for the howitzer support package will be BAE Systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a separate notification, the State Department approved a possible $198.2 million sale linked to Apache helicopters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe US Department of State has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of India for its purchase of Apache Helicopters follow-on support services and related equipment,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
India has requested \u201cAH-64E Apache sustainment support services; US Government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics support services; technical data and publications; personnel training; and other related elements of logistics and program support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The principal contractors for the Apache-related package are Boeing and Lockheed Martin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both notifications stressed that the proposed sales would support Washington\u2019s broader strategic objectives in the Indo-Pacific region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by helping to strengthen the US-Indian strategic relationship and to improve the security of a major defence partner which continues to be an important force for political stability, peace, and economic progress in the Indo-Pacific and South Asia regions,\u201d the State Department said in identical language in both notifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US also said the proposed sales would \u201cimprove India\u2019s capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defence, and deter regional threats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The notifications added that \u201cIndia will have no difficulty absorbing these articles and services into its armed forces.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The State Department further noted that the proposed sales \u201cwill not alter the basic military balance in the region\u201d and would have \u201cno adverse impact on US defence readiness\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The approvals come amid expanding defence cooperation between India and United States, which have steadily deepened military ties over the past decade through arms sales, joint military exercises and technology-sharing initiatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington, The United States has approved two possible Foreign Military Sales to India worth a combined $428.2 million, covering follow-on support for AH-64E Apache helicopters and sustainment support for M777A2 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-news","has_no_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2550,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2549\/revisions\/2550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}