08 Jul 15. Indian Panel finishes talks to buy 4 More P-8I aircraft. Talks between the Navy and Boeing for four additional P-8I maritime surveillance aircraft are at an advanced stage with the Cost Negotiating Committee (CNC) having recently completed the negotiations. The Navy already has eight aircraft on order. Ministry sources told The Hindu that cost negotiations have been completed recently and the file would soon be sent to the Defence Ministry’s finance wing. From the finance wing, the file will go to the Finance Ministry before being put up for final approval before the Cabinet Committee on Security headed by the Prime Minister. In 2009, India signed a contract for eight P-8Is in a deal worth $ 2.2bn from Boeing under a direct commercial deal with an optional clause for four more. The Navy which is quite satisfied with the aircraft has decided to exercise the optional clause and negotiations have been going on for about a year. Seven aircraft have already been inducted and are based in Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu. The last aircraft is expected to be delivered by October. The P-8I is a next generation surveillance aircraft based on Boeing 737 commercial airliner and India is its first international customer. It is meant to replace the legacy of Russian aircraft currently in service. India had also purchased 26 Harpoon anti-ship missiles from the US to equip the P-8Is. (Source: defence-aerospace.com/The Hindu)
08 Jul 15. Indonesian Air Force Plans to Replace C-130 Hercules. Indonesian Air Force Chief of Staff, Air Marshal Agus Supriatna, revealed that he has conducted a study to replace Hercules aircraft with new transport aircraft. “We have conducted a study to replace C-130 Hercules aircraft with the new ones either from France, the United States, or Russia, but the replacement depends on the government,” Supriatna stated at the Cilangkap Air Force Headquarters in East Jakarta on Tuesday. According to Supriatna, the result of the study has been submitted to the Ministry of Defense to arrive at a decision on whether to replace the Hercules aircraft with the new transport aircraft.
“Our 2015-2019 strategic plan is to replace the F5 jet fighters and to procure heavy transport aircraft, heavy transport helicopters, and large transport helicopters,” he affirmed.
When contacted separately, Defense Ministry’s Head of Public Communication Brigadier General Jundan Eko Bintoro justified the plan to replace the Hercules aircraft with either Airbus A400M from France or Boeing C-17 from the United States, as the two types of transport aircraft have large capacity.
“The Airbus A400M and Boeing C-17 Globemaster are larger and newer, and the procurement is expected to be made during the period between 2016 and 2018,” Jundan added. (Source: defence-aerospace.com/ANTARA News)
08 Jul 15. Bulgaria to award MiG-29 Service deal to Poland.
Bulgarian Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev unveiled plans by his government to sign the much-awaited contract for maintenance and repair services of the country’s 12 Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter jets with Poland.
The minister first made the announcement in an interview with Reuters, confirming earlier reports on the government’s reluctance to continue its defense cooperation with Moscow. Until now, the aircraft was serviced by Russia. The Bulgarian government decided to award the deal to one of its NATO allies, Poland, because of Sofia’s increasing row with Moscow.
A representative of RKS-MiG, the aircraft’s manufacturer, said Poland cannot legally perform maintenance and servicing works on the Russian-built fighter.
“Poland does not have the licence to repair and extend the life of the engines of MiG-29 fighter jets,” RKS-MiG’s Alexander Alexandrov told local daily Pressa.
This April, Nenchev told local media he was offered a bribe to sign a deal with Russia, but refused to do so. The extended deal until 2019 — which Nenchev said was “unfavorable” to Bulgaria — was priced by the Russian side at s