Embraer, Lockheed Martin vie for India’s $10.5B military transport aircraft deal

NEW DELHI — Global aerospace companies Embraer from Brazil and Lockheed Martin from the United States are offering to expand aircraft manufacturing facilities in India as they pursue an approximately $10.5 billion contract for 60 medium transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force.

Embraer’s C-390 Millennium is competing with Lockheed Martin’s C-130J Super Hercules as India seeks to replace its aging military transport fleet that includes the Soviet-era Antonov An-32.

The formal race for one of India’s biggest military aviation contracts set off in August when India issued a Request for Proposal to five Indian companies setting the stage for the bidding. Global aviation companies are partnering with Indian firms because New Delhi has mandated that while the initial multi role aircraft will be delivered ready to fly, the rest must be built domestically .

With India’s focus on building a local aerospace industrial base, Embraer announced on Oct. 1 that the company and its Indian partner, Mahindra Defence, have identified the central Indian city of Nagpur as a production site for the aircraft if they are awarded the contract.

“Identifying Nagpur as a potential location for an assembly facility is an important step in building a robust, long-term aerospace ecosystem in the country,” said Bosco da Costa Junior, president and CEO of Embraer Defense & Security, in a joint statement with Mahindra.

The two companies said they will progressively integrate Indian aerospace companies into the C-390 Millennium ecosystem to deliver manufacturing, training and lifecycle support.

Lockheed Martin already has a presence in India — the Indian Air Force currently operates 12 C-130J Super Hercules aircraft. The company says the aircraft it is now offering, the C-130J-30 in its Block 8.1.2 configuration, will be more advanced than the ones currently with the air force.

If it wins, Lockheed has said that 12 aircraft would be built in the U.S. and 48 in India in partnership with Tata Advanced Systems Limited, with which it has a joint venture.

The American company already has a manufacturing base in India. It makes key components, including the aircraft’s empennage or tail assembly, locally with Tata.

Winning the contract would mean establishing a bigger industrial footprint in India, Dan Tenney, Lockheed Martin’s senior vice president for global business development and strategy, recently told the Press Trust of India.

“We have a long partnership with Tata that produces components and empennages of the C-130J aircraft. It is a very robust capability that will be expanded in our current bid,” he said.

The company has also proposed upgrading the Indian Air Force’s existing fleet of 12 C-130Js.

India has set a requirement of minimum 40% domestic content for the aircraft. Because the country shares long Himalayan borders with rivals Pakistan and China, the aircraft must also be able to operate in high-altitude locations and from temporary or unpaved strips. Besides ferrying troops, vehicles and ammunition, India also uses military transport aircraft for disaster relief and humanitarian assistance.

The bids are due by early December, after which the proposals will go through technical evaluation.

Amid its two decade-long push for greater local production and technology transfer, the government wants the mega aviation contract to deepen the country’s defense manufacturing footprint.

新德里——巴西航空工业公司和美国洛克希德·马丁公司这两家全球航空航天公司正积极争取为印度空军提供价值约105亿美元的60架中型运输机合同，并提出扩大在印度的飞机制造设施。

印度正寻求替换其老化的军用运输机队，其中包括苏联时代的安东诺夫安-32，而巴西航空工业公司的C-390“千禧”运输机正与洛克希德·马丁公司的C-130J“超级大力神”运输机展开竞争。

印度最大的军用航空合同之一的正式竞标于8月启动，当时印度向五家印度公司发出招标邀请书，为竞标拉开序幕。全球航空企业正与印度公司合作，因为新德里方面规定，首批交付的多用途飞机将以可直接飞行的状态交付，而其余飞机必须在国内制造。

鉴于印度致力于建设本土航空航天工业基地，巴西航空工业公司于 10 月 1 日宣布，如果获得合同，该公司及其印度合作伙伴 Mahindra Defence 已将印度中部城市那格浦尔确定为该型飞机的生产基地。

“将那格浦尔确定为组装厂的潜在选址，是构建该国强大、长期的航空航天生态系统的重要一步，”巴西航空工业公司防务与安全总裁兼首席执行官博斯科·达·科斯塔·朱尼尔在与马恒达集团的联合声明中表示。

两家公司表示，他们将逐步把印度航空航天公司纳入 C-390 千年运输机生态系统，以提供制造、培训和全生命周期支持。

洛克希德·马丁公司在印度已有业务——印度空军目前装备有12架C-130J“超级大力神”运输机。该公司表示，其此次提供的C-130J-30（Block 8.1.2配置）将比印度空军目前使用的机型更加先进。

洛克希德公司表示，如果中标，将在美国制造 12 架飞机，并与塔塔先进系统有限公司（与其成立合资企业）合作在印度制造 48 架飞机。

这家美国公司已经在印度设有制造基地。它与塔塔集团合作，在当地生产包括飞机尾翼组件在内的关键部件。

洛克希德·马丁公司全球业务发展与战略高级副总裁丹·特尼最近告诉印度报业托拉斯，赢得这份合同意味着在印度建立更大的工业影响力。

“我们与塔塔集团有着长期的合作关系，塔塔集团生产C-130J飞机的零部件和尾翼。这是一项非常强大的能力，我们将在本次投标中加以扩展，”他说道。

该公司还提议升级印度空军现有的 12 架 C-130J 运输机。

印度要求该型飞机国产化率至少达到40%。由于印度与巴基斯坦和中国这两个宿敌共享漫长的喜马拉雅山脉边界，该型飞机还必须能够在高海拔地区以及临时或简易跑道上起降。除了运送部队、车辆和弹药外，印度还利用军用运输机进行灾害救援和人道主义援助。

投标截止日期为12月初，之后方案将进行技术评估。

在过去二十年大力推进本地化生产和技术转让的过程中，政府希望通过这份巨额航空合同来深化该国的国防制造业布局。