Officials Pessimistic About LUH Prospects
India's long-delayed effort to acquire 197 light reconnaissance and surveillance helicopters for its army and air force is spiraling toward what might be the program's second cancellation...
...A senior Indian defense ministry source confirms that the Defense Acquisition Council, headed by Defense Minister A.K. Antony, will not move forward on the light helicopter program until inquiries into corruption charges by the officer are complete...
...Now, the possibility of a second program kill has Eurocopter managers in India anxious to the extreme.
The “delay in the procurement program for reconnaissance and surveillance helicopters has become a serious cause of concern for Eurocopter,” wrote Rainer Farid, vice president for sales and customer relations in India and South Asia in an April 3 letter to India's director general of acquisitions. “Since issue of the current [request for proposals], till date four years has elapsed, and the validity of the commercial quotes has already been extended six times.”
Kamov declined requests for comment on the program, but an official at Russian Helicopters in New Delhi described a sense of confusion about how to proceed.
“It does not look good. The government hasn't answered questions sent by us. The signal appears to be, step back, this isn't happening,” the official said. “We are currently weighing our options under the Defense Procurement Procedure. There is a total absence of clarity on the way forward.”
Industry worries appear to be shared within the Indian government. Defense ministry officials remain grim about the program's future.
“It isn't formally over. But it seems unlikely it will come up for a decision any time soon,” says a senior defense ministry acquisitions officer. “The entire deal will have to be reexamined, perhaps from scratch.”
The possibility of ending the procurement a second time is a bitter blow for the army and air force, both of which have desperately sought new-build helicopters for operations from high-altitude bases since 2004...