Indian Military

New Delhi — The Indian Navy continues to suffer delays in acquiring multi-role helicopters (MRH) as bids from international manufacturers have expired. The Indian Defence Ministry has indicated that the commercial bids from US firm Sikorsky and British-Italian firm Agusta Westland for the MRH have expired last month.

The Request for Proposal (RFP) for the 16 MRH worth $1 billion was issued in August 2008 and since the commercial bids are valid for two years only, they stand expired. The Indian Defence Ministry now intends to request the firms to revise their offers. While the technical evaluation has been wrapped up, Indian Navy is yet to pursue the Flight Evaluation Trials for the two contenders.

The two contenders for the MRH for the Indian Navy are the US firm Sikorsky’s S-70B Sea Hawk and British-Italian Agusta Westland’s NH-90 helicopters. Once the contract is decided and awarded, the Indian Navy would get the delivery of the MRH within 46 months in three phases and the RFP provides an option of placing follow-on orders for another 44 helicopters.

The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has issued a notification to the US Congress for the possible Foreign Military Sale of ’21 AGM-84L Harpoon Block II Missiles and associated equipment, parts and logistical support for a complete package worth approximately $200 million’.

The DSCA notification also listed as part of the sale, ’5 ATM-84L Harpoon Block II Training Missiles, Captive Air Training Missiles, containers, spare and repair parts, support and test equipment, publications and technical documentation, personnel training and training equipment, U.S. Government and contractor representatives’ technical assistance, engineering and logistics support services, and other related elements of logistics support’.

While earlier, the Indian Air Force (IAF) had acquired 24 Harpoon Block II missiles for its Jaguar aircraft, the DSCA says this sale is intended for the P-8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft that the Indian Navy had ordered in January, 2009.

The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified the US Congress, last week, of its approval for the possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) of radars, weapons and engines in the event of a possible Direct Commercial Sale of 22 AH-64D Block III Apache helicopters to India.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is looking for 22 attack helicopters through a tender, where Boeing’s Apache is up against the Russian Mi-28, and in the event the former is selected, some components of the aircraft will have to be purchased through an FMS.

“This notification is being made in advance so that, in the event that the Boeing- US Army proposal is selected, the United States might move as quickly as possible to implement the sale,” says the the statement issued by the US DSCA.

According to the statement, the FMS components to be supplied along with the direct commercial sale of 22 AH-64D Block III Apache helicopters would include ’50 T700-GE-701D engines, 12 AN/APG-78 Fire Control Radars, 12 AN/APR-48A Radar Frequency Interferometers, 812 AGM-114L-3 Hellfire Longbow missiles, 542 AGM-114R-3 Hellfire II missiles, 245 Stinger Block I-92H missiles, and 23 Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensors’.

The Indian Army has issued a Request For Information (RFI) for towed artillery guns, effectively canceling the previous process for procurement of these weapons systems, in which BAE Systems was fielding the FH77 B05, (an upgraded version of the FH77 B02 in service with the army) against Singapore Technologies (ST) Kinetics’ iFH 2000.

The army, which had issued the RFI on Thursday, gave much cause for confusion, by initially alluding to ‘A Self Propelled Gun System mounted on a vehicle chassis such as CEASER 155 mm Self propelled Gun’. The line was deleted on Friday evening, to remove any doubts about the earlier tender process being canceled.

During the day, on Friday, sources in the Ministry of Defense confirmed that the RFI, indeed, indicated a fresh tender for 155 mm/52 caliber Towed Artillery Guns. The reason the ministry gave for this decision was the creation of a single-vendor situation due to the non-appearance of the ST Kinetics’ gun at the trials.