India’s 197 Helicopter Procurement Update

Indian Defense Minister AK Antony has announced that the procurement of 197 Reconnaissance and Surveillance Helicopters (RSHs) on Buy Global basis and 187 Light Utility Helicopters (LUHs) is “on progress”. However, the fact remains that the procurement has been delayed well past the intended 2 year time frame which ended in December 2011. Antony informed the Parliament on the progress of the helicopter procurement saying that the ‘finance department has not raised objections regarding the trial process for selection’. The Eurocopter AS 350 Fennec is competing with Russian Kamov 226 'Sergei' for supplying these choppers to the Indian Army and Air Force in a project expected to be worth over $1.5 billion. The RFP to replace India’s aging Cheetah and Chetak helicopters was issued in July 2008, the trials for the competition ended in mid 2011. The Ministry of Defense has delayed the announcing the winners, which was expected last October. Earlier this year, expressing its frustration in delays, Eurocopter wrote a letter to the Army Chief, General V K Singh, saying, “The technical evaluation process has now taken over 38 months and has not yet been concluded due to reasons which are unknown to us".