India and the US have signed a billion-dollar deal for purchase of six Super Hercules military transport planes from Lockheed Martin. The deal was signed recently after the Indian Cabinet Committee on Security last month cleared the purchase of six C-130J Super Hercules aircraft. The planes are expected to be delivered from 2011.“It is a very good plane and is very widely used. It is a workhorse and has been used for 40 years but the ‘J’ type (C-130J) is amazing. it can really take off on a much shorter runway and India basically lacks this kind of an airplane,” said James Clad, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence. Lockheed is also bidding against Russian and European competitors for the sale of 126 multi-purpose combat aircraft to the Indian Air Force.Defence and security relationships between India and the US is one of those “deeper ongoing things”, Clad said. “Think of it as a trendline that is gradually but definitely going up,” Clad added.Clad, the senior Pentagon official in charge of South and South East Asia, said the deal has helped breach a “psychological barrier” in Indo-US defence cooperation. “It squarely puts Lockheed Martin on the ground with Boeing which is already there in India in civilian aircraft. It is one of those things where the psychology of which is very significant. There have been other things like Raytheon radars but this is the kind of thing that has an effect on the defence corporate community.diligence, good work and products make the difference,” he said. “It puts us on the scoreboard,” Clad added.
