Indian Air Force To Acquire 22 Attack Helicopters for $550M
Dated 30/5/2008
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The Indian Defence Ministry has issued a request for proposal (RfP) to buy 22 attack helicopters for about $25 million per platform, including weapons, to boost the Air Force's surveillance and combat capabilities.
Issued May 23, the RfP was sent to AgustaWestland, Boeing, Eurocopter, Khazan and Bell Helicopter. An Air Force official said the helicopter should weigh 2,500 kilograms or more when empty and have two engines. It must be highly agile, have advanced anti-armor capability, and include provision for a turret gun of 20mm or higher caliber and be able to fire 70mm rockets at a range of 1.2 kilometers.
In addition, it should be able to employ air-to-ground, fire-and-forget missiles with a range of at least 7 kilometers. To survive the modern battlefield, the Air Force wants the helos to carry a state-of-the-art electronic warfare protection suite and carry a radar warning receiver capable of intercepting, identifying and prioritizing multiple airborne and ground-based radio frequency emitters.
The Air Force wants the helicopters to be operational in all weather, day and night, and be able to function in desert and mountainous terrain. The first two helicopters would be supplied within 24 months of signing of the contract, with final delivery within 36 months. The contract is expected to take two years to finalize. The vendor will be expected to provide a 30 percent offset, which would be about $165 million for a contract of $550 million.
"The Indian Air Force has been wanting to buy attack helicopters to boost its air surveillance and fighting capability for a long time" a senior Defence Ministry official said. The Defence Ministry recently cleared the purchase of 384 additional light helicopters worth $2 billion for both the Air Force and Army. The RfP for this second purchase is expected to be issued in June, the Defence Ministry official said; 125 copters would go to the Air Force and 259 to the Army.
