New Delhi

Looking to add new mid-air refuelling aircraft for a long time, the Indian Air Force is likely to award the around Rs 8,000 crore deal for buying six aerial tanker planes from an Israeli government-owned firm, which has emerged as a single vendor.

The Israeli firm Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), if awarded the contract, would be modifying six old and second-hand Boeing 767 commercial planes to turn them into tanker aircraft and then supplying them to the Indian Air Force, defence sources told ANI.

The IAI has emerged as the resultant single vendor in a competitive bid where it has agreed to the need for around 30 per cent Made in India content through offsets involved in the deal, they said.

The competition launched a few years ago has seen participation from Russian and European firms also, but IAI was the only one left in the race, as others were not meeting the requirements, including the one for 3-30 per cent indigenous content on second-hand planes, they said.

The Indian Air Force has been operating a fleet of six Russian-origin Il-78 mid-air refuelling aircraft, which are based out of Agra and provide support to all types of fighter aircraft operations of the Indian Air Force and the Navy.

The Indian Air Force has made several attempts in the last 15 years to buy six more flight refuelling aircraft, but has failed to do so due to multiple reasons.

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It has recently also wet-leased a tanker aircraft, but would require a larger number of aircraft to meet its expanding requirements. The Indian Air Force is in the process of phasing out its legacy aircraft, and its new fleet can fly for longer hours with mid-air refuelling.