Indian Coast Guard’s Helicopter Lease Procurement Gets Underway

The Indian Coast Guard (ICG)’s program to lease helicopters has got off the ground with Sikorsky, OSS Air and Indocopter submitting bids by the close of bid submission date. The ICG had invited bids at the beginning of this year to quickly induct the helicopters for transport and surveillance duties. However the bid acceptance date had to be extended as the Indian government owned helicopter operator, Pawan Hans had sought time to submit its bid. An industry source told defenseworld.net that the ICG now has only three bids till the last date for bid submission which was the end of June 2011 and that it would go ahead with the evaluation of the helicopters which would be dry-leased for 3-5 years. While the dry lease bid calls for 12 choppers, the bidders have been sounded out that this could be upped to 30 helicopters. The evaluation could take 3 months and the winner is expected to be announced by the end of the year. While Sikorsky has pitched S-76 choppers, OSS Air has offered the AgustaWestland A-109 and Indocopter, the Indian maintenance partner of Eurocopter, has offered a Eurocopter machine. This procurement is being closely watched as its success would set the trend for future leasing of helicopters by other wings of the Indian defence forces. Generally, Indian forces prefer outright purchase but protracted delays in procurement has opened up the lease option. An earlier plan to lease eight helicopters had been canceled by the Indian MoD in 2010 on grounds that the lease was too expensive.