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

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