The whole world is eagerly waiting for Donald Trump’s maiden visit to India, the first since he assumed office as the US President in 2017.
The visit is going to be very crucial for Indo-US relations and will see Indian PM Narendra Modi and Trump sharing a single stage addressing lakhs of audience.
Taking the hopes to the next level, India’s Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) made a key announcement exactly a week ahead of this historic meet.
CCS, led by PM Modi, gave its nod for the procurement of 24 Lockheed Martin-Sikorky MH-60R Seahawk Romeo multirole maritime helicopters worth USD 2.6 billion from US.
“The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) cleared the procurement of 24 MH-60R multi-role helicopters for the navy,” reads an official statement on February 19, 2020.
These copters to the Indian Navy will be procured from the US Department of Defense (DoD) under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) agreement.
The Defense Acquisition Council, in August 2018, approved the procurement of 111 Armed Light Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH) and 24 Naval Multirole Helicopters (NMRH) to the Indian Navy under the new defense policy.
Later in February 2019, MoD issued an Expression of Interest (EOI) for 16 US-made Sikorsky S-70B-x helicopters. Under this EOI, 95 helicopters will also be made in India.
Now, the CCS-approved 24 helicopters will not fall under the MoD new defense policy. The US DoD has cleared this sale for an estimated USD 2.6 billion.
