India likely to finalize $4bn C-17 order by year-end

Singapore: Boeing Co expects to land an Indian order for 10 giant C-17 transporters by the end of the year and has said it will only be too happy to supply more of these heavy-lift transport planes should India opt for more. The company also said it had moved on from the disappointment caused by the loss of a huge contract for supply of medium range fighters to the Indian Air Force.

Boeing recently lost out on a lucrative tender for supply of 126 medium range, multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) to the Indian Air Force, along with rival American company, Lockheed Martin. The contract, touted as the 'mother-of-all-deals' in international arms sales, was potentially worth atleast $12 billion.

India has short-listed European consortium, Eurofighter, and French firm Dassault for the final round of negotiations.

"It's a closed chapter for us--we've moved our focus to other businesses in India," said Dennis Muilenburg, president and chief executive of Boeing's defence, space and security division in Singapore.

Talking of other deals in the offing, Muilenburg said, "We're continuing to see progress on the C-17 deal in India, we've had a successful field trial and government-to-government relationship is supporting that process."

"We do expect it to come to completion sometime this year and then we'll move forward with those aircraft."