IAF Transport Aircraft Tender limited to private companies

[Jagdish58]

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Defence is all set to approve its earlier proposal to involve only Indian private sector firms in the manufacture of a replacement for 56 Avros transport planes.

At its first-ever meet under the new government on Saturday, the Defence Minister Arun Jaitley-headed Defence Acquisition Council will give its nod for the tendering process. The tendering process had got stuck in November following objections from then Heavy Industries Minister and NCP leader Praful Patel and some others over keeping out Public Sector Undertakings such as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

The high-level panel is also set to approve the extension of the bidding process for this key Indian Air Force acquisition till August 28.

In 2013, the UPA government gave approval to acquire 56 new transport planes worth `15,000 crore, of which 16 would be bought off the shelf from a foreign vendor, and the rest would be produced by an Indian company at its domestic facilities, following a technology transfer from the original equipment manufacturer.

The new cargo planes will replace the IAF's near-obsolete fleet of Avro planes.

Among the foreign original equipment manufacturers that have got the tender papers are Ilyushin of Russia, Antonov of Ukraine, European consortium's Airbus, Brazilian Embraer, Italian major Finmeccanica's Alenia Aermacchi, American firms Boeing and Lockheed Martin and Swedish Saab. One of the unstated intention behind the government keeping this tender an "Indian private sector only" venture is to establish an domestic competitor to HAL, which has the only aviation manufacturing facility in the country.

Foreign original equipment manufacturers are to tie up with Indian companies. The ministry, under A K Antony, had decided to review its 'private sector only' tender to build 56 military transport planes. It had also extended the last date for the submission of bids by foreign original equipment manufacturers till a call was taken on including public sector companies as production agencies.

http://m.newindianexpress.com/nation/338529


HAL MONOPOLY BYE BYE:thumb:

 

[DivineHeretic]

Too early to even begin dreaming of the demise of monopoly of HAL. But then, any progress is good progress.

The problem with this tender is that the private firm has to set up a manufacturing facility for only 40 confirmed orders. That's an inherently bad business proposition for any party, which is why this deal has drawn a muted response from the private players in India.

The better plan would have been to gather up the IA , the Coast-Guard & the various state agencies who are likely to place orders over and above the IAF's orders and provide, at the very least, a clear estimate of the demand this plane would generate from the Indian government. In such a scenario, even without a written commitment for more aircraft, the deal would entice the private players considerably more than it does now.

 

[archie]

The intention i believe will be to kick of small regional transport jet business... if my assumption holds.. this transport aircraft shares airframe with passenger aircraft..so 40 aircraft is first confirmed order and then you can have regional airlines lining to buy from this facility or even export from here

 

[Apollyon]

So a private company has to setup assembly line for a total committed order of 40 examples. What could possibly go wrong?.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

If true then its good for lots of Indians, There are hundreds of runways lay waste around country if not in thousands ..

A mid size short landing and takeoff aircraft would be nice .

The intention i believe will be to kick of small regional transport jet business... if my assumption holds.. this transport aircraft shares airframe with passenger aircraft..so 40 aircraft is first confirmed order and then you can have regional airlines lining to buy from this facility or even export from here

 

[archie]

India's Light Transport Competition: Follow Avros to Exit

Few of the companies have hinted at shifting base or offering production of civilian version of the aircraft as well from .. a little old article not sure how much has changed now!!

Then there's Ilyushin's IL-114 external link. It's used as a regional airliner in Uzbekistan, whose 14-plane order made them the IL-114"²s only customer. Cargo capacity lists as 6.5 tonnes, and production has ended external link. That isn't a hugely appealing combination, even if the manufacturer promised to move all future production to India

Saab has been building Indian partnerships as part of its M-MRCA fighter bid. They could offer to restart turboprop production in India, with the intention of winning both Indian military contracts, and extending civilian sales in the region

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Shown at Hyderabad air show 2008, Il-114 with Two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127Н by turboprops and can carry 64 passengers..

===================

Other Aircrafts >>

SAAB-2000

====================

The British Aerospace ATP (Advanced Turbo-Prop) was an airliner produced by British Aerospace, designed as an evolution of the Hawker Siddeley HS 748. The fuel crisis and increasing worries about aircraft noise led business planners at British Aerospace to believe that there was a market for a short-range, low-noise, fuel-efficient turboprop aircraft. By the time it entered the market, the segment was already well represented by designs such as the de Havilland Canada Dash 8 and ATR 42, and production was ended after only 64 examples.

 

[venkat]

BYE BYE HAL ??? Welcome to corruption then !!!! mutual greasing of palms!!!! no no its one way onleeeee:taunt1:

 

[syncro]

The only 2 seriuos countenders are the Airbus EADS CASA C-295 and the italian C-27J.

Personally I dont think that the C-27J have great chance due the actual rift India-Italy... even if the C-27J is superior overall to the C-295 and the fact that then the C-27J has a 95% commonality in avionics and engines with the new Indians C-130Js for a country that has never considered the benefits of a highly integrated logistics for both political and military reasons to diversify suppliers (and for more free hands for corruptions and kickbacks )..

Glad to see finally that India start reject the idiot centralized and Top-Down approch and has taken the right way of a more rational Bottom-Up approch to create a widespread private industry with more high quality and innovation and more global links.

The C-27J Praetorian gunship version at the Farnborough 2014 show with a prototipe on the ramp of a mini dispenser/luncher for the new freefall ATK Hatchet 60 mm (3.2 kg with about the power of a 30 mm round) with GPS guidance and SAL seeker... in the final version the C-27J gunship can store and lunch hundreds of those mini guided weapons.

 

[Jagdish58]

End of PSU hold over defence buys | idrw.org

 

[right wing]

overall good step...more such private steps needed to shake hal into action..just as icici woke our great sbi up..and being essentially a civilian aircraft body..this can be bought by a plethora of govt and private bodies...besides the commited orders from iaf...so no problem for break even.

 

[archie]

Govt plans 200 low-cost airports to connect Tier-II, Tier-III towns - Business Today

This Probably ties in with the strategy nicely for the tender direction