Boeing submits bids for $2bln India defence projects

[EjazR]

Boeing submits bids for $2bln India defence projects | Markets | Markets News | Reuters

NEW DELHI, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) has submitted two proposals to the Indian Air Force, offering the AH-64D Apache and the CH-47F Chinook in a deal potentially worth $2 billion, Boeing's country head and Indian officials said on Friday.

India invited bids in May for 22 attack helicopters and at least 15 heavy-lift helicopters as it plans to replace its ageing Soviet-era fleet with modern weapon systems.

"The Apache will be a capable and lethal defender of India's troops and assets, while the Chinook will answer many of the country's military and humanitarian needs," Vivek Lall, vice president and India country head for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, said on Friday.

"We have no idea of the timeline and how long will it take as we have just submitted our proposals," Lall told Reuters.

The company has already signed a $2.1 billion contract for supplying eight P-8I warfare planes to the Indian Navy.

The Indian government says it will prioritise defence and push forward pending projects to modernise its armed forces especially after the Mumbai attacks in November revealed security loopholes.

It is looking to spend more than $30 billion over the next five years to modernise its defence systems.

 

[EjazR]

^^ Apache's are one of the best attack helicopters out there. It would be great if MoD would get these

 

[adatta]

Now, race begins for IAF's 22-copter deal
TNN 24 October 2009, 03:36am IST

NEW DELHI: Even as the six foreign contenders in the race to bag the lucrative $10.4 billion project to supply 126 multi-role combat aircraft to

IAF jostle with each other, battlelines are also being drawn on the helicopter front now.

IAF wants to buy 22 attack helicopters and 15 heavy-lift helicopters from abroad, under the overall plan of the armed forces to induct as many as 800 `rotary-wing birds' over the coming decade at an estimated cost of over Rs 20,000 crore, as reported by TOI earlier.

While American, Russian and Italian companies submitted their bids for the 22 attack helicopters to the defence ministry this week, European aviation major Eurocopter has surprisingly opted out of the race.

Eurocopter apparently told the defence ministry its Tigre ARH choppers will not be able to participate in IAF field trials planned for mid-2010 since they are undergoing upgrades currently.

Consequently, Boeing's AH-64D Apache Longbow, Agusta Westland's A-129 Mangusta and Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant's Mi-28 Havoc, among others, are left in contention now.

IAF's quest to induct the new attack helicopters to bolster its fleet of existing Mi-35 choppers has been dogged by some controversy or the other over the last couple of years, with the global tender even being cancelled earlier.

American companies Bell and Boeing had then backed out of the race since they were apparently unhappy with the 50% offset requirements laid down in the tender. European companies, in turn, obliquely hint at US companies getting preference over them in the Indian market.

Boeing and Russian Mil, incidentally, have also submitted their bids for the 15 heavy-lift helicopter project. But the multi-mission Chinooks manufactured by Boeing, used for troop movement, logistics support, aerial battlefield recovery and special operations, will have to contend with the Russian Mi-26 heavy-transport helicopters. IAF already operates one squadron of Mi-26s to support Army's high-altitude deployments in the Ladakh region.



-TOI