Anti-submarine choppers to be made in India soon

[micky]

The Narendra Modi government, determined to push domestic manufacturing of defence equipment, is likely to scrap a plan to acquire a squadron of naval multi-role helicopters (NMRH) from global vendors and issue fresh requests for proposals, stipulating that these machines must be made in India and the main vendor should be Indian.

• The Indian Navy’s wait for the much-needed anti-submarine warfare helicopters to operate from its warships may just get longer. The Narendra Modi government, determined to push domestic manufacturing of defence equipment, is likely to scrap a plan to acquire a squadron of naval multi-role helicopters (NMRH) from global vendors and issue fresh requests for proposals, stipulating that these machines must be made in India and the main vendor should be Indian.
  
  The idea is to shift these purchases to a category where India buys the technology from overseas and the manufacturing of the equipment/machine is done here. Under this “Buy and Make in India” policy of the defence ministry, 80% of the cost of development and prototyping will be borne by the government, while the remainder is to be financed by the developing agency (DA).
  
  The scrapping of the plan to procure 16 NMRH from global vendors, which was meant to be the first phase of a contract to acquire a fleet of 91 such helicopters at a cost of $3 billion, would likely be announced after the next meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) at the end of this month, official sources told FE.
  
  The NMRH fleet will be equipped with anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities and customised for amphibious assaults and commando operations. The Modi government’s decision is expected to generate business worth over
  R20,0000 crore for the local industry, sources said.
  
  The DAC, chaired by defence minister Arun Jaitley on July 19, had deferred the decision on the MRH helicopter project while clearing other military procurement proposals. The two contenders in the fray for the contract are the European NH-90 helicopter and the American Sikorsky-70B. “The navy had sought the way forward in the NMRH project, which also included deviations being sought by the two companies in their offsets proposals, but the DAC has kept the entire matter pending for now,” said a source.
  
  The Indian Navy issued the request for information (RFI) for 16 NMRH in July 2011. This tender has been delayed as the defence ministry asked both finalists to extend the validity of their bids by another six months in July 2013.
  
  Since then nothing moved as the government of the day had put everything on hold. As far as the navy is concerned, both contenders have met naval staff qualitative requirements for a multi-role chopper with its primary missions consisting of ASW and anti-surface warfare and secondary roles such as search and rescue, transport, casualty evacuation etc.
  
  Though the navy is on track to induct four to five warships every year over the next decade, it is fast running out of helicopters meant to detect and kill enemy submarines. It just has 11 Kamov-28 and 17 Sea King ASW helicopters to defend its existing fleet of over 130 warships. While the Sea Kings are over 20 years old, the Kamov-28s are long overdue for a mid-life upgrade

 

[danger007]

so are we gonna make 91 such helicopters? ??

 

[sancho]

....

Can you add the source please?


On topic, another tender scrapped and re-issued for the make in India policy? => More delays in induction, more accidents likely because of issues with old helicopters (Indian Navy's Chetak copter makes hard landing, 4 crew hurt | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis I wonder how happy the forces are with the new MoD?

so are we gonna make 91 such helicopters? ??

The initial 16 were only the short term requirement and mainly for the ASW role, the total requirement for naval helicopters in that class is far higher, especially with IN incresing it's surface fleet by far in the coming years.

 

[micky]

Anti-submarine choppers to be made in India soon
Financial Express-17 hours ago

 

[jha]

Hmm... This will lead to a delay of at least an year. But if they plan to make ~100 choppers, its better to make them at home. Most probably TATAs are going to win in partnership with Sirkosky.

 

[MokshaVimukthi]

Finally some common sense in action. It was a long wait to put a baniya as the PM but finally it we did it and it was worth the wait

 

[kaykay]

Which heli suits us better? I mean considering everything like our requirement, cost, ToT, weapons etc.

 

[AMCA]

With huge orders such as these, I can certainly see some new brands in the Aerospace Market. TATA and Mahindra are going to rule the skies as India is the most lucrative market in the world for such goodies.

 

[Ammyy]

I always thought same... when China can licence produce Mi 17 then why cant we demand same?

Now privates companies are available to counter delay problem of HAL.

 

[chauvunist]

Good Luck with that..I hope it does't take more than 2 decades though considering the track record..

 

[knightmare]

Good Luck with that..I hope it does't take more than 2 decades though considering the track record..

Oh! you are one of those people who try to walk forward while looking backwards.

 

[FNFAL]

Thankfully the tipping point of going for domestic production is being realised in my lifetime.

 

[sancho]

Hmm... This will lead to a delay of at least an year. But if they plan to make ~100 choppers, its better to make them at home. Most probably TATAs are going to win in partnership with Sirkosky.

That was the idea all along, so that is not the new part. The initial order of the ASW helicopter was likely to be followed by a larger licence production order of the same helicopter, licence produced in India. What could be new now, is what we have seen in the other tenders that were scrapped for the same reasons, to implement the team up with Indian industry partners and then re-bid. One year delay would be rather optimistic, look at the ammount of evaluation of Dassault and Co, to find suitable Indian partners, negotiations and contract fixing with these partners and all that needs to be done now, before a new tender can be opened and new bids can be provided.
The new MoD basically, wants all currently active tenders and all coming tenders, to be in the same line as what the former MoD started with the FICV or self-proppelled howitzer tenders. The problem is, that scrapping tenders like LUH or P75I, that were basically only avaiting the final selection of a winner, is a huge setback for the forces and I'm really curious if the MoD dares to do the same with M-MRCA now as well, which they actually must do if, they are following a constant policy here. The ATGM tender where Spike and Javelin are competing each other, could then be re-issued too.

 

[Etilla]

So the current capability of 23 ASW Helis/PN Sub will be further expanded.

Good Job

 

[MokshaVimukthi]

Which heli suits us better? I mean considering everything like our requirement, cost, ToT, weapons etc.

The Heli that suits us best is the One that will be made in INDIA. One in which we will have control and opportunities to upgrade and improve.

It as simple as that. Sometimes we tend to over-analyse things resulting in analysis paralysis.

I am glad that Modi understands this.

That was the idea all along, so that is not the new part. The initial order of the ASW helicopter was likely to be followed by a larger licence production order of the same helicopter, licence produced in India. What could be new now, is what we have seen in the other tenders that were scrapped for the same reasons, to implement the team up with Indian industry partners and then re-bid. One year delay would be rather optimistic, look at the ammount of evaluation of Dassault and Co, to find suitable Indian partners, negotiations and contract fixing with these partners and all that needs to be done now, before a new tender can be opened and new bids can be provided.
The new MoD basically, wants all currently active tenders and all coming tenders, to be in the same line as what the former MoD started with the FICV or self-proppelled howitzer tenders. The problem is, that scrapping tenders like LUH or P75I, that were basically only avaiting the final selection of a winner, is a huge setback for the forces and I'm really curious if the MoD dares to do the same with M-MRCA now as well, which they actually must do if, they are following a constant policy here. The ATGM tender where Spike and Javelin are competing each other, could then be re-issued too.

If that really as the idea then why did the UPA govt. never took a decision to support this ? 10 years was not long enough ?

Why did it take a Modi govt. to scrape the light utility helicopters tender ? Why din't the UPA govt. do that either ?

Stop finding excuses for the UPA govt. to support your pet prejudice.