The Defence Ministry on Tuesday issues expression of interest for short listing of potential Indian and foreign original equipment manufacturers(OEM) for 111 naval utility helicopters. This project is the first under the Strategic Partnership to build state of the art weapon platforms within the country. The Defence Acquisition Council(DAC) had given the nod for the project in August last year.
The proposed new twin-engine helicopters will replace the ageing Chetak single engine helicopters of the Navy. The new helicopters will be used for search and rescue missions and casualty evacuations, navy officials said here on Tuesday. Moreover, 95 helicopters out of the 111 will be manufactured in India by the selected Indian selected partners. The global tender was floated last year and four foreign companies were found fitting the bill. They will now respond to the expression of interest catering to specific requirements of the Indian Navy, they said.
The request for expression of interest from Indian private companies for participating in the project has been hosted on the defence ministry and Indian Navy websites. However, the equest for Expression of Interest from foreign OEMs has been forwarded to companies that participated in the global tender deliberations. The OEMs have been mandated to set up dedicated manufacturing line, including design, integration and manufacturing processes for helicopters in India and make Indian Manufacturing Line as a global exclusive facility for the naval utility helicopter platform being offered.
Whilst Indian companies have been given two months to respond to the expression of interest, the foreign OEMs have been given three months. Tata Advanced Systems Ltd, Mahindra Defence, Adani Defence, L&T, Bharat Forge and Reliance Infrastructure are the probable Indian companies that are likely to participate in the process. The Indian companies would be shortlisted based on their capability of system of system integration, facility in the aerospace domain and financial capability.
The foreign OEMs likely to participate in the project are Lockheed Martin, Airbus Helicopters, Bell Helicopters and Russia. High level of indigenisation of about 60% of the helicopter is desired, they said.
