February 28, 2008 -- India has extended a deadline for global military aviation groups to bid on a contract to supply 126 fighter jets worth as much as 12 bln usd, officials said.

The announcement of the two-month extension comes after reports that one or more bidders had sought additional time. The deadline had been set for March 3. India floated the global tender for the fighter jets last August and said six contenders were on its short list.

'We have issued an eight-week extension and this will ensure the maximum competition until the last date,' a senior defence ministry official told Agence France-Presse on the condition he was not named.

The official did not elaborate but said the extension was offered yesterday.

Seattle-based Boeing, one of the front-runners, said it was ready with its proposals for the contract, which stipulates that 18 jets will be bought in flyaway condition by 2012 and the rest assembled in India.

'Our proposal to offer Super Hornets to India is complete,' Boeing Integrated Defence Systems spokesman Chris Chadwick said in a statement to AFP. 'We are ready with a fully compliant proposal and will submit it three days early.'

US-based aerospace firm Lockheed Martin, which is offering its F-16s to the technology-hungry Indian airforce, said last week it could meet the deadline.

'We have sought no extension and plan to meet the deadline,' company vice president Orville Prins recently told reporters in New Delhi.

Russian manufacturers were not immediately available for comment and a spokesman from EADS, the European consortium selling Typhoon Eurofighter jets, said it would issue a statement later today.

Industry sources said at least two rivals called for the extra time in a bid to bypass a military import policy which has been labelled 'restrictive' by international arms firms.

The policy stipulates foreign firms selling products to India must re-invest up to 50 pct of the total amount to build manufacturing capacity in the country.

Source: AFX International Focus