In yet another arms deal, India is buying 10 C-17 Globemaster-III giant strategic airlift aircraft from Unites States, each of which comes for over a whopping $220 million. The deal costing India $2.2bn, is the largest ever Indo-US defense deal so far.

 After getting the approval from Defense acquisition council, under ministry of Defence, headed by Defense Minister A K Antony, India sent a ‘letter of request’ for this this project to US last week. The deal is under Foreign Military Service (FMS) program, which enables the country to engage in a direct military deal without going for global tenders. “Under FMS, we will get C-17s at the same price the US government buys them from Boeing, plus some service charges,” Said an MoD Official.

 C-17 Globemaster-III can carry a pay load of up to 17000 pounds and can fly 2,400 nautical miles before refueling and can do a mid-air refueling. At present, 212 C-17 aircrafts are in service around the globe.

 European counter parts are worried over US bagging deals with India under FMS and some see increased US influence over India Defense Ministry.  Deals like buying 197 Eurocopter light utility helicopters for $1 billion and six Airbus-330 MRTT mid-air refueling aircrafts for $1.5 billion were cancelled by MoD when they were almost finalized.