TIL Desk/World/Washington/ The Trump administration has approved a deal to sell six AH-64E Apache attack helicopters to India for $930 million (Rs 6,284 crore), the Pentagon said on Wednesday, underlining that this will strengthen India’s ability to defend its homeland and deter regional threats. Pentagon’s Defence Security Cooperation Agency notified the Congress about the State department’s decision in this regard.
The sale is expected to pass through if no lawmaker opposes this. In addition to the attack helicopters, the contract also includes fire control radars; Hellfire Longbow missiles; stinger Block I-92H missiles; night vision sensors and inertial navigation systems. In its notification to the Congress, the Pentagon said, “This will strengthen India’s ability to defend its homeland and deter regional threats.”
“This support for the AH-64E will provide an increase in India’s defensive capability to counter ground-armoured threats and modernise its armed forces. India will have no difficulty absorbing the helicopters and support equipment into its armed forces,” the Pentagon said. “The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region,” it said. The lead contractors are US arms, aviations and engineering giants Lockheed Martin, General Electric and Raytheon. Bilateral defence trade between India and the United States has risen from near zero to $15 billion since 2008.
