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Antony's reluctance to take decision puts 197 choppers deal in jeopardy

sasi

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defence eXpress: Antony¡¯s reluctance to take decision puts 197 choppers deal in jeopardy

The Defence Minister AK Antony's reluctance to take a call on making minor modifications in the original tender for the procurement of 197 light utility helicopters has put the whole deal in jeopardy.
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According to sources, Eurocopter AS550C3 Fennec had emerged as the winner of the field trials for the helicopters for the Indian Army and Indian Air Force (IAF) in the deal estimated to be valuing $ 1 billion. But there was one minor issue problem - long stretcher cannot be accommodated in the helicopter. The Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) suggested that that it can add bulge to the gate so that a longstretcher can be put inside the helicopter. A Technical Oversight Committee was set up to look into the matter.
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"The change in the doors of the helicopter would not have affected much. The oversight committee found that the change will not affect the helicopter much but, it will require a little change in the requirements of RfP. This change in the RfP could only be brought by approval of the Defence Minister," sources added.
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The matter was referred to Antony. However, reluctant to take "discretionary" call, the Defence Minister surrendered his discretionary power to the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) comprising of the Minister of state for Defence, three services chiefs, Defence Secretary, Secretary Defence Production and other senior officials of the Ministry of Defence.
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"This effectively means that the DAC will consider this issue. Most likely the deal has been put in a cold storage. So jeopardizing the status of the tender itself," sources added.
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The procurement of 197 helicopters for the Indian Army has been jinxed as the force's earlier attempt to acquirethese machines ended in a naught when the tender was cancelled at the last moment. The tender was re-issued in 2008 but it ran into rough weather after the Defence Ministry received an anonymous letter alleging roles of arms dealers in the deal.
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The Eurocopter AS 550 C3 Fennec was selected after grueling trials in hot, humid and high altitude conditions in Rajasthan, Punjab and Kashmir including Siachen Glacier. These new rotary machines will replaces the 1970 vintage Chetak and Cheetah helicopters in operation with the Indian Army. As per the tender, Eurocopter will deliver 60 helicopters in fly-away conditionand remaining 137 will be licensed produced by Hindustan Aeronautic's Limited at Bangalore.
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Thanks to the disgusting redtape brigade nothing ever gets done in India, politicians are the worst @holes of the world.
 
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We should give hal 2 yrs to develop luh and give them to forces in mission mode, instead of import. They should use dhurv heli in-between until, our luh come.
 
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FFS!! It seems to me there are certain procurements that just drag and drag like the Arty and LUHs but there are others that get through in a heartbeat like P-8, Apache (deal was pretty quick if you look at it),UAVs etc it seems he deals tha were either started earlier of have a lot of attention on them will progress very slowly becuse all he beauraceats and politicians involved don't want to be accused of any wrong doing. This extremely selfish decision by Antony will coz lives but he doesn't give a sh!t as long as his image ramains clean. A-hole!!!
 
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It's time that a person who favors his personal image & integrity more than national security should be shown the door. He is committing blunders like V K Krishna Menon. What will we do about the integrity & image of Antony when our armed forces don't have enough weapon systems to save our country from any outside emergency?? This is what i call BS.
 
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Fate Of 197 Copter Bid To Be Decided Monday?

On October 29, the Indian MoD's Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) will deliberate over how to proceed on the reconnaissance and surveillance helicopter (RSH) competition, which looks to contract for 197 light helicopters (133 for the Army and 64 for the IAF)...

...Livefist can confirm that both the Fennec and its competitor, the Russian Kamov Ka-226T have technical deviations at various levels, though the precise details of those deviations remain various, with several reports suggesting specific parameters. What is sure is that a Technical Oversight Committee has studied the deviations and made certain recommendations to the MoD. It is understood that decisions on those recommendations will take place at the DAC meeting on Monday.

Yet another, deeply unsavoury tinge to the competition has come in via investigations into a competitor that was eliminated from the reckoning in 2010 -- AgustaWestland. Italian investigators have discovered documents which detail a purported offer from an Indian Army officer to rig trials in the competition to favour a vendor in exchange for percentage commissions (see previous post below)...

Livefist: Fate Of 197 Copter Bid To Be Decided Monday?
 
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