Boeing, HAL in $4.5 million deal for P-8I fuselage parts

US defence and aerospace giant, Boeing Co, said Thursday it had inked a $4.5 million (Rs20.85 crore) deal with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) for weapons bay doors for the eight maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft ordered by the Indian Navy.

P-8A Poseidon

'A contract has been signed with HAL for the delivery of weapons bay doors and the first delivery will be by the end of 2010,' Vivek Lall, country head of Boeing Defence, Space and Security, told reporters here.

The deal for the eight P8-I aircraft is worth $2.1 billion, of which Boeing has to reinvest $640 million in India as part of its industrial offsets obligations.

'Although HAL provides other equipment for the P-8I through its avionics division in Hyderabad, this is the first P-8I offset package that Boeing has directly executed with India's largest aerospace company,' Lall added.

'HAL's consistent performance in quality, cost and delivery in manufacturing aero-structures and composite assemblies is the key to securing further orders from Boeing, with whom we share a strong relationship,' said Soundara Rajan, HAL's director for corporate planning and marketing.

The P-8I is a variant of the P-8A Poseidon that Boeing is developing for the US Navy.