Lockheed Martin Admits Challenges.

Lockheed Martin's successful sale of 12 C-130J-30 transport aircraft to India has included "challenges but not obstacles", a company told on 19 February.

Lockheed Martin Admits Challenges.

Abhay Paranjape, director of business development for Lockheed Martin, said that these challenges were "because it's a new customer," but that the India Air Force (IAF) was "very pleased with the aircraft" and had used it "in multiple humanitarian missions."

The IAF acquired six C-130J-30s in 2007 for USD962 million and in December 2013 signed a USD1.1 billion follow-on contract for six more. Both deals were conducted via the US Foreign Military Sales route.

The first six - now five following the loss of one in an accident - are based at the Hindon Air Base on New Delhi's outskirts. The supplementary C130J-30s, which Paranjape said would be delivered by 2017, will be based at Panagarh in eastern India, the proposed headquarters of the Indian Army's new XVII Mountain Strike Corps.

In June 2013 the IAF deployed its C-130J-30 fleet for relief operations following severe floods in Uttarakhand state; five months later it despatched a C-130 to the Philippines on a similar mission after Typhoon Haiyan.

Paranjape described the sale as "a very good example of how the FMS process can work" and the associated offset arrangements are an example of how Lockheed Martin was supporting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'make in India' initiative.

Lockheed Martin and the Indian Tata Group conglomerate announced the establishment of a joint venture (JV) to manufacture aerostructures for C-130s in February 2011. Paranjape said the structural components manufactured by the JV - named Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructures - had been integrated into the global C-130 supply chain.

He added that further local manufacture and production could occur "if there's the business case, if the numbers are right."

"It's about getting the best value for Lockheed Martin, our Indian partner, [and] the Indian government. We're very bullish about that," Paranjape said.