A major proposal worth over Rs 21,738 crore for procuring 111 naval utility helicopters was cleared on Tuesday by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, giving a boost to the Navy’s aerial capabilities as these armed helicopters can operate from warships and shore in all weather conditions 24X7.
While 16 helicopters will be procured in “fly away” condition directly from the original equipment manufacturer once it is shortlisted, the remaining 95 will be manufactured within the country through joint venture between an Indian manufacturer and the foreign vendor under the strategic partnership policy.
The policy was cleared in May this year to give a fillip to the Indian industry, including private and public, to jointly build big-ticket items like helicopters, fighter jets, warships, submarines and artillery guns and propelling the domestic players to the elite group of nations manufacturing such weapon systems.
Indian manufacturers like Mahindras, larsen and Toubro and Bharat Forge are likely to bid for the bid for the twin engine light utility helicopters weighing about five tons for the Navy besides foreign vendors including Sikorsky and Bell(both from US), Airbus(France) and the Russians.
The global tender or Request for Information (RFI) was floated for this project in August this year and after the DAC clearance now, the Defence Ministry will shortly issue Request for Proposal (RFP) to the manufacturers, officials said adding this acquisition project will be the first under the Strategic Partnership model.
At present, the Navy is flying ageing Chetak and Cheetah helicopters which are operating for the last three decades. The Service urgently needs a replacement for these helicopters now in the final stages of their operational life.
The Navy was not in favour of Russian built Kamov-226T light utility helicopters (lUH). The Government earlier this year cleared a proposal to build 200 such helicopters jointly by the Russian manufacturer and Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAl) for the Army and IAF. The cost of this venture is more than Rs 7,000 crore.
The main reason for ruling out the Kamovs is that its rotors cannot be folded for stationing in under deck hangars and this helicopter not compatible for fitting torpedoes to hit enemy warships and submarines, sources said.
Though the Navy is keen to induct the new helicopters as soon as possible, sources said the competitors will have to go through the mandatory technical and commercial bids to qualify while the defence ministry will simultaneously identify the local manufacturer for the joint venture. The entire process may take three to four years, they said citing the complexities involved in selecting the best suitable vendors.
Besides this proposal, the DAC also gave the go ahead for procurement of nine active towed array sonars for the warships and submarines to detect enemy vessels. The total cost of this project is more than Rs 450 crore. These systems will be procured from a foreign vendor after due process, they said.