Airbus claims victory in Indian air refuelling tanker contract

[LETHALFORCE]

Airbus says in pole position for Indian air refuelling tanker contract

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus said Monday that it has won a tender to supply India with six A330 air refuelling tankers, a deal potentially worth more than $1.0 billion (770 million euros).

"Airbus Military is pleased to confirm that it has been selected by the Government of India as the preferred bidder to supply its A330 MRTT Multi Role Tanker Transport to the Indian Air Force," an Airbus statement said.

A spokesman for Airbus Military, the group's defence division, declined to comment on the deal's value, which would have a catalogue price of $1.25-1.38 billion.

Airbus still has a way to go before it can take a signed contract to the bank however, as the development opened the door to a long process of negotiations between Delhi and the aircraft manufacturer.

As an example, the French company Dassault Aviation was chosen by India in January 2012 to supply 126 Rafale combat jets, but that deal has yet to be finalised.

Airbus Military chief executive Domingo Urena Raso was quoted as saying: "We are fully committed to the next stage of the negotiations, and ultimately to providing the IAF with what is unquestionably the most advanced tanker/transport aircraft flying and certified today."

Airbus had already won a contract to build air refuelling tankers for India, but that deal was cancelled owing to irregularities in the tender process.

This time around, Airbus was competing head-to-head with the Russian group Ilyushin, which has already supplied aircraft to India.

If the Airbus contract with India is finalised, it would mark the sixth country to buy or say it will buy the tankers.

The others are Australia, Britain, France, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.

An industry source said that India might need many more than just six of the planes, meanwhile.

The A330 MRTT (multirole tanker transport) can supply two aircraft with fuel at the same time, and in the configuration now being used by the Australian air force, can carry 111 tonnes of fuel, 37 tonnes of material and 270 passengers.

The deal would be a welcome fillip to Airbus, which suffered a bitter defeat in the United States almost two years ago when arch rival Boeing won a US Air Force contract for 179 air refuelling tankers.

 

[JBH22]

The deal would be a welcome fillip to Airbus, which suffered a bitter defeat in the United States almost two years ago when arch rival Boeing won a US Air Force contract for 179 air refuelling tankers.

Wonder who writes such crap 6 refuellers can it replace 179 tankers deal?

 

[AVERAGE INDIAN]

Airbus awaits closure of contract for air-to-air refuelling aircraft

With a year having passed since it had been selected by the Indian Government as the "preferred bidder" to supply its A330 MRTT Multi Role Tanker Transport to the Indian Air Force (IAF), the European defence major Airbus Defence and Space on Thursday said it was confident of the deal being finalised within the current fiscal. In the meantime, the Government has urged Airbus to extend the validity of its tender bid to July 31, 2014.

Speaking during a media interaction organized to make India aware of its airlifter, the A400 M, officials of Airbus said they were confident of the contract for the supply of six A330 MRTT getting through very soon.

The aircraft, the Airbus said had been selected following a lengthy and thorough selection process including the completion of extensive flight demonstrations in India during which the aircraft refuelled multiple types of IAF fighters and operated from the high-altitude IAF base at Leh.

After the short listing of the company, detailed negotiations followed and while the final production contract for the six aircraft was expected to come through in 2013, Airbus is now banking on it happening before the elections. "Even otherwise military contracts follow great levels of due diligence and therefore do not get unduly influenced by electoral outcomes," said Anil Gupta, a senior company official. The meeting was also addressed by senior company officials Peter Gutsmeidl and Harish V.

At the time of selecting the A330 MRTT, India had become the fifth nation to do so – the others being Australia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom which had ordered a total of 28 aircrafts.

Talking to The Hindu, a company official said A330 MRTT is capable of deploying four fighters and airlifting all necessary support equipment and personnel over 2800 nautical miles.

Built on the platform of the civilian aircraft, A-330, which is being used by Air India as well, the MRTT has a fuel tank of 111 ton capacity and since the fuel is stored in the wings, the belly and the passenger area can be used for transporting additional equipment and personnel respectively during operations.

Incidentally, the company had first bid for the contract opposite the Russian IL-76 in 2006 and had won the bid in 2009. However, the Finance Minister had while citing reasonability of price got the order scrapped. It was retendered in 2010 and finalized in January 2013. But the contract has still not been signed.

Airbus awaits closure of contract for air-to-air refuelling aircraft - The Hindu

 

[pmaitra]

We already have Ilyushin-76 tankers. Why add more diversity?

 

[AVERAGE INDIAN]

We already have Ilyushin-76 tankers. Why add more diversity?

It is derived from the best-selling A330 widebody twin-engine commercial airliner, so maintanance service is already aviable , can be done in any major civilian airport in case of emergency and excels in the full range of operational tanker mission scenarios. The aircraft also has designed-in flexibility for cargo, passengers and aeromedical evacuation. It combines advanced avionics with Airbus' proven fly-by-wire control system and the most up-to-date manufacturing techniques, enabling the lowest operating costs.

The A330 MRTT can directly support a fighter squadron's deployment by carrying its operational personnel and equipment while also performing refuelling escort for the squadron's combat aircraft to an overseas base. This allows the fighter squadron to deploy as a unit, and then quickly ramp up to a combat-level sortie rate after arrival

another might be Pakis got same plane as their tanker the above are my personal opinions i might be wrong

 

[Twinblade]

We already have Ilyushin-76 tankers. Why add more diversity?

Cost savings, cheaper lifetime costs due to economy of scale in spares.