LMT Lockheed Martin Corp

NEW DELHI—India Tuesday approved plans to buy 37 military helicopters from Boeing Co. just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to land in the U.S.

The long-delayed final approval by India's federal cabinet shows India's efforts to deepen ties with the U.S. and modernize its military.

India will buy 15 CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters and 22 AH-64E Apache multi-role combat helicopters from Boeing, an Indian government official, who didn't wish to be named, said. The order includes options to buy an additional 7 Chinook and 11 Apache helicopters.

The total value of the deal could be as high as $3 billion, said one person involved with the negotiations.

The order had been stuck for years. India originally decided to buy the helicopters back in 2012 but negotiations and the final decision have dragged on due to Indian politics.

India is one of the world's largest weapons importers, but many of its multibillion-dollar deals to buy military equipment have been stalled because of domestic political pressures and controversy over corruption allegations during the last government.

Boeing's contract got caught in that logjam, even though it wasn't the focus of any specific allegations.

The negotiations had gone for so long that earlier this year Boeing's president in India, Pratyush Kumar, said the company may not be able to stick to the prices it had originally offered.

Similar delays have dogged a multibillion-dollar deal with France's Dassault Aviation SA to purchase 126 Rafale combat planes. In April India finally agreed to acquire 36 Rafale jets but the final details of the acquisition, including the price, are still stuck in negotiations.

The Boeing helicopter approval—which comes as India's Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to visit the U.S. Thursday--could help strengthen the defense ties between the two countries. India has been turning to the U.S. increasingly for help upgrading its military to as it tries to gird itself against instability in Pakistan and Afghanistan and to counterbalance China's growing military presence in Asia.

India became the world's largest buyer of U.S. arms in recent years. It has been buying more arms from America as part of its plans to diversify away from its decades-long dependence on Russia for military equipment.

The South Asian nation has ordered more than $10 billion of U.S. weapons in the past decade. Its acquisitions from the U.S. include P-8I anti-submarine warfare planes and C-17 Globemaster airlifters from Boeing and C-130J Super Hercules planes from Lockheed Martin Corp.

For the Boeing helicopter orders, the Chinooks will be bought directly from Boeing but the Apache contract will have to go through the foreign military sales route--a government-to-government mechanism for selling U.S. defense equipment wherein the purchaser deals with the U.S. government instead of the military equipment manufacturer.

The Boeing contract would include engines from General Electric Co., Hellfire missiles from Lockheed Martin Corp. and Stinger missiles from Raytheon Co.

Write to Santanu Choudhury at santanu.choudhury@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 22, 2015 10:05 ET (14:05 GMT)

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