India could sign a multibillion-dollar arms deal with the United States to purchase patriot missiles, a report on Indian television has said.

The Indian army has requested a briefing with U.S. officials to discuss the Patriot-3 Anti-Missile System, according to the Times Now television Web site, whose report is unsourced.

The system is expected to include missile launchers and an upgraded AN/MPQ-65 radar to enhance detection in high-clutter environments.

The briefings are likely early next year after which demonstrations could follow. The Times Now report noted that the Patriot missile system was used extensively in the 1991 Gulf war as well as in the Iraq war.

Meanwhile, the Indian air force has informed the Defense Ministry that it wants 10 C-17 military transport aircraft. The aircraft was on show during the India-U.S. training exercises in Agra last month.

No official statements have been issued by the Indian Ministry of Defense.

The National Aerospace Laboratories has confirmed that the third prototype of the Saras civilian aircraft will be ready by the end of 2010.

It was eight months ago that the second prototype of the 14-seater plane crashed during a test flight, killing three people on board, a report in the Hindu newspaper said.

M.S. Chidananda, head of the Center for Civil Aircraft Design and Development, said that Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. would manufacture the aircraft at its Kanpur facility. The aircraft is to be just over 1,000 pounds lighter than the second prototype and is expected to get an airworthy certification by the end of 2011.

The Indian air force said in June that it would buy 15 Saras, a project that was started in 1991 in conjunction with Russian developer V.M. Myasishchev Experimental Design Bureau.

The project almost came to a halt when it was hit by U.S.-imposed sanctions in 1998, after India's nuclear tests in Pokhran. Its maiden flight was in May 2004.

The first prototype weighed around 11,290 pounds using two 850 hp Canadian Pratt & Whitney turbo-prop engines of the push-pull configuration. This was later replaced by an upgraded PT6A 1,200 hp engine that was also used in the second prototype, whose weight was pared down by 880 pounds through use of composite materials.

A court of inquiry into the crash of the second prototype found that wrong engine relight drills given to the pilots caused the crash.

The Saras basic configuration closely resembles the Embraer/FMA CBA 123 Vector, which never went into production.