Cabinet to clear A330 Tanker contract shortly

A proposed deal with EADS/Airbus Military for six A330 multirole tanker transport (MRTT) will shortly be cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), following which a formal contract will be signed. The contract, worth approximately $1.3 billion may be processed through the government-to-government route considering that the IAF had decided in advance that it did not want the Ilyushin-78M to be part of the competition.

The IAF has chosen the same Israeli-built pod-probe-drogue that was fitted on the Ilyushin-78s. The A330 MRTT will be used to refuel almost all current IAF aircraft types: Mirage-2000, Jaguar, Sukhoi-30MKI and MiG-29 (which will get probes as part of their upgrade), the A-50I Phalcon AWACS and the C-130J Super Hercules, as also the Navy's Sea Harriers (or what's left of them), the new MiG-29Ks and the P-8I LRMRs.

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