IAF issues Rs 1 lakh crore tender for 60 transport planes

The Story in Brief

The defence ministry has floated a Rs 1 lakh crore Request for Proposal (RFP) to buy 60 medium transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force, replacing its four-decade-old An-32 fleet. Indian companies, Tata, Mahindra Defence, Adani Defence and HAL, will be prime contractors, tying up with foreign original equipment manufacturers. Twelve aircraft will be bought in flyaway condition while the remaining 48 will be built in India with a minimum 40 per cent indigenous content, rising to 60 per cent in phases. Top contenders include the C-130J Super Hercules (Tata-Lockheed Martin) and the C-390 Millennium (Mahindra-Embraer). HAL is also in the fray with a revived Russian partnership.

The An-32 has been flying on shrinking spares and rising maintenance demands, and a June crash that killed five crew members underlined the urgency. The new aircraft, expected to carry payloads of 18-30 tonnes, must operate from high-altitude airstrips in Ladakh and the northeast. The buy, cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council in March, is one of India's biggest aviation procurement drives and aims to bolster frontline logistics along contested borders.