St Louis, October 08, 2005, Rumi Dutta Hardasmalani (TOI)

After bagging the deal to supply 50 passenger planes to Air India, Boeing has set its eyes on the country’s defence market. The US aircraft maker will initiate discussions with the government to supply 100 next generation fighter planes.

"We see a $10-15 billion market for modern defence machines in India over the next 10 years," Jim Albaugh, Boeing president and CEO (Integrated Defence Systems), said.

Albaugh will visit India next week to meet diplomats and defence ministry officials to brief them on his company’s portfolio of the latest range of fighter planes and warfare systems. Traditionally, India has been sourcing fighter planes and defence equipment from Russia.

"We now want to understand India’s defence requirements and our offer will be dictated by their specific needs. We understand that there is a requirement for 100 tactical fighter planes," Albaugh added.

Boeing’s $30 billion Integrated Defence Systems unit is expecting a huge demand push from Asia Pacific markets primarily from Japan, Korea, Australia and India and is expecting an annual growth rate of 10%.

"I have never seen a time like this before when the business opportunity from our international operations was so vibrant," said Albaugh. US defence budget, according to Albaugh, is expected to flatten out over the next 4-5 years, due to the war operations in Iraq which consumes $1 billion every week and the hurricane Katrina which resulted in huge economic losses.

Boeing is exploring option of outsourcing the manufacturing tcritical component to Indian companies. It has already signed a strategic R&D agreement to develop commercial aerospace structures and design with Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. It is in talks with DRDO to jointly develop technology of critical warfare equipment.

Boeing is developing a warefare concept that generates increased combat power due to its ability to link information among satellite, aerospace, on ground and underwater.