As India with its expanding economy abandons its longstanding dependence on Russian military suppliers, American and European companies are beginning to salivate over New Delhi's shopping list.

The first deal came through on Jan. 31 when India signed to buy six Lockheed C-130Js, worth about $1 billion.

"This [deal] kind of puts us in a new environment," said James Clad, deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia. Observers noted that it was a dramatic shift from its previous heavy reliance on Russian transport planes. American industry and Pentagon officials have been targeting the Indian market ever since the implosion of the Soviet Union in 1990, and the possibility of new and warmer relations with the once-Soviet ally.

Evidence of the new situation was Lockheed Martin and Boeing's presence among the 273 overseas exhibitors participating in a defense exhibition organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry in New Delhi in February. Some 32,000 visitors were expected at the three-day DEFEXPO India 2008, which opened Feb. 16.

The Indians are eyeing purchases of 155 billion Rupees [$3.9 billion] in military hardware over the next five years, Defense Minister A.K. Antony told a press conference at the exposition.

With a fleet of aging Russian MiG and Sukhoi planes in its air force, New Delhi last August invited bids for 126 fighter jets worth $11 billion, the biggest order for combat planes worldwide in 15 years.

India spent 100 billion Rupees [$2.6 billion] in defense equipment in the year ended March 31, becoming the world's 10th-largest military spender last year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Foreign and Indian companies are racing to set up cooperative sales and joint manufacturing ventures. India’s largest corporation, the Tata Group, unveiled plans to form a partnership with European defense and aerospace consortium EADS to bid for the Indian army's $1-billion advanced tactical communication system project. Tata Advanced Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Industries, and other group companies would go in with EADS Defense and Security, Raytheon and Precision Electronics to bid for the communications system.

It was the third defense-related project announced by the Tata Group in early February. The other two are joint ventures with Boeing to produce aerospace components in India and a contract with U.S.-based Sikorsky Helicopters to build cabins for S-92 choppers.

Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems unit will offer India its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters, the P-8I patrol aircraft, the CH-47 Chinook and the AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters. The Harpoon, JDAM and SLAM-ER missiles will also be on sale in India.

Boeing, the Pentagon's second-largest supplier, said it hopes for as much as $15 billion of military orders in India over the next 10 years to shore up sales at its defense unit, which have flagged with reduced U.S. military spending for hardware. Lockheed Martin Corp., the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier, has been told India may be ready to look into possible U.S.-Indian collaboration on ballistic missile defense, a top company official said.

"I would not be surprised if over the next couple of months we begin to have some exploratory discussions with various members of the government and with Indian industry," Richard Kirkland, Lockheed Martin's top executive on South Asia, told Reuters earlier this year.

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