Multi Role Helicopters (MRH) to be inducted into Indian Navy

[Zebra]

Defence ministry scraps Rs 6,000cr tender for purchase of 197 helicopters - The Times of India

PTI | Aug 29, 2014, 05.17 PM IST

NEW DELHI: Defence ministry on Friday scrapped a scam-tainted tender worth over Rs 6,000 crore to procure 197 light utility helicopters for Army and Air Force to replace the vintage fleet of Cheetah and Chetak choppers used to move troops and equipment to high altitude locations like Siachen.

In a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council headed by defence minister Arun Jaitley, the government also cleared proposals worth over Rs 17,500 crore including the mid-life upgrade of the aging fleet of submarines for Rs 4,800 crore and procurement of 118 Arjun Mk II tanks for Rs 6,600 crore.

The DAC decided to retract from the tender for procuring 197 helicopters and it has been decided that the Indian industry would be given the opportunity to produce around 400 such choppers for the requirements of the armed forces, defence ministry sources said here.

In line with NDA government's plan to develop the indigenous industry, the government decision is expected to generate business worth over Rs 40,0000 crore for the local industry in the defence sector, they said.

This is the second time in seven years that the tender has been scrapped in which European Eurocopter and Russian Kamov were competing and it had been on hold for the past over two years due to an ongoing CBI probe and other allegations of wrongdoings in the trial process.

The CBI probe was ordered into the deal in view of allegations in the AgustaWestland chopper scam that a Brigadier had asked for a bribe of Rs 30 crore from the Anglo-Italian firm for helping it in the light chopper deal.

AgustaWestland was eliminated in the first round of the deal and only Eurocopter and Kamov were left in the race.

The tender was cancelled in 2007 in the last stage against the backdrop of allegations of wrongdoings.

The DAC also cleared a proposal for buying 40 Arjun tank chassis-based catapult artillery systems for Rs 820 crore, and gave its nod for setting up dedicated mobile communication systems for Army troops deployed along the China border under Tezpur-based 4 Corps, Dimapur-based 3 Corps and Leh-based 14 Corps.

The meeting also gave a go ahead to the Navy to open the bids of the tender for procuring 16 multi-role helicopters in a deal in which American Sikorsky and European NH Industries, which includes AgustaWestland, are in contention.

The decision to give the go ahead for opening the bids of the two competitors in the race was taken after the defence ministry issued guidelines for dealing with cases involving Italian Finmeccannica defence group and its subsidiary companies.

The meeting also deferred its decision on the Rs 15,000 crore Army proposal for procuring the Israeli 'Spike' anti-tank guided missiles against the backdrop of American offer to jointly produce the Javelin missiles for the same purpose.

The defence ministry's apex body for procurement cases also cleared proposal for offsets deviations in the Rs 15,0000 crore deal for buying 15 Chinook and 22 Apache attack helicopters from the US.

 

[p2prada]

Any time frame mentioned? I don't see anything in the article and I am not on twitter.

We will most likely know something in the first quarter of the next year.

This govts working faster, so that's good news.

 

[Srinivas_K]

Advantage Sikorsky As Indian MoD To Finally Open MRH Bids

Advantage Sikorsky As Indian MoD To Finally Open MRH Bids

After sitting on two commercial bids for over two years, the Indian MoD today formally decided it would move forward with the stalled Multirole Helicopter (MRH) competition that looks to acquire 16 advanced multirole helicopters for the Indian Navy to augment and then replace its Westland & Sikorsky Sea Kings. Unless things exit the window the way they have so many times in the past, this one looks like a sitter for Sikorsky. It's been an ill-tempered competition, with allegations and counter-allegations flying through much of 2011-12, mostly by NHIndustries against Sikorsky. And as we know so well, few things slow already lumbering procurement processes to a dead crawl like allegations of favouritism or partiality. The MoD's decision today to move forward and open bids from Sikorsky for the S-70B Sea Hawk and NHIndustries for the NH90 is excellent news for the navy that's increasingly hamstrung for capable rotorcraft it can send out to sea. It also paves the way for the larger IMRH programme that looks to procure a much larger number of similar helicopters, a competition that Lockheed-Martin has eyed closely with the MH-60 Romeo.
Livefist

 

[Anoop Sajwan]

Re: Advantage Sikorsky As Indian MoD To Finally Open MRH Bids

I hope NH90 will be selected, because we are purchasing too many things from USA.
Can any one eloborate the pros and cons of these helis.😞

 

[sob]

Re: Advantage Sikorsky As Indian MoD To Finally Open MRH Bids

Sikorsky already has a JV with the Tata group.

They have already laid the groundwork for the offsets and it will be great to see these birds manufactured in Hyderabad.

 

[Zebra]

Re: Advantage Sikorsky As Indian MoD To Finally Open MRH Bids

I hope NH90 will be selected, because we are purchasing too many things from USA.
Can any one eloborate the pros and cons of these helis.😞

1)The Netherlands is willing to stop the deliveries of the NH90 helicopter

2) Defence's new choppers are duds: report

3) Germany not happy with NH90 helicopter - UPI.com

4) Air Transportation: Troubled NH90 Makes It To The Big Time

 

[Zebra]

Re: Advantage Sikorsky As Indian MoD To Finally Open MRH Bids


Uploaded on Apr 7, 2010

The new SAF naval helicopter - the Sikorsky S-70B, is capable of seeking out and destroying submarines and surface vessels. In this video, Khai Yan goes to San Diego, USA to witness how the helicopter integrates with the Republic of Singapore Navy's Formidable Class stealth frigate.

 

[Yusuf]

Re: Advantage Sikorsky As Indian MoD To Finally Open MRH Bids

I hope NH90 will be selected, because we are purchasing too many things from USA.
Can any one eloborate the pros and cons of these helis.😞

We should buy stuff from China as we haven't bought anything from them, then.

Decisions are made based on what's good for the country not how much is sourced from one country. We've been buying too much from Russians but no one seems to complain so far

 

[Anoop Sajwan]

Re: Advantage Sikorsky As Indian MoD To Finally Open MRH Bids

We should buy stuff from China as we haven't bought anything from them, then.

Decisions are made based on what's good for the country not how much is sourced from one country. We've been buying too much from Russians but no one seems to complain so far

Then You should say this when IAF open the MMRCA tender. And for your kind information sir, USA already become our largest arm exporter recent years. And also s70 also didn't acheive all parameters IN.

 

[Virendra]

Re: Advantage Sikorsky As Indian MoD To Finally Open MRH Bids

Sikorsky already has a JV with the Tata group.
They have already laid the groundwork for the offsets and it will be great to see these birds manufactured in Hyderabad.

Yes, TASL had begun manufacturing the airframes in 2012.

 

[Srinivas_K]

Re: Advantage Sikorsky As Indian MoD To Finally Open MRH Bids

I think with the FDI gates open, India will be manufacturing base in 4 or 5 years. We should go for JV's.

Any way even if we buy any stuff from foreign vendor because of cheaper costs they prefer to manufacture here, if the order is in bulk.

 

[SajeevJino]

Re: Advantage Sikorsky As Indian MoD To Finally Open MRH Bids

please @Singh Saar Move this thread into Indian navy MRH thread Because that thread which having lot more info about S 70 Contributed by @Rikbo88

Also compares to S 70 NH 90 have more advantages

which is already debated in that thread

 

[Dhairya Yadav]

Choosing NH90 would be wise. Russia is already unhappy with India of being closer to America, And a minor Cold War V2 just starting, we better stick with Europe and Russia .

 

[abingdonboy]

@Rikbo88 are you able to give more insight into the IN team that you interacted with particularly the pilots? What exactly were they (in your opinion) most interested in- cost? Capabilities? And what did they seem most impressed by wrt the S-70B? And what did you make of the IN team overall? Professional? Clear about what they wanted/needed?

 

[Rikbo88]

Choosing NH90 would be wise. Russia is already unhappy with India of being closer to America, And a minor Cold War V2 just starting, we better stick with Europe and Russia .

Given all the problems documented with the NH90 and now the NFH90 (which is what IN would likely get) I am surprised you would say this. And let's not forget Europe and Russia are not exactly being friendly towards one another right now with the whole Ukraine situation. India needs an aircraft with the best capabilities to meet its missions, and that aircraft is the S-70B.

 

[Rikbo88]

@Rikbo88 are you able to give more insight into the IN team that you interacted with particularly the pilots? What exactly were they (in your opinion) most interested in- cost? Capabilities? And what did they seem most impressed by wrt the S-70B? And what did you make of the IN team overall? Professional? Clear about what they wanted/needed?

Most interested in capability. I think they were especially impressed with the overall aircraft performance. Their time with the Turkish Navy was spent flying actual missions with a deployed aircraft with typical mission loads. These missions demonstrated the aircraft's endurance and ability to meet those specific requirements. Also impressed with the aircraft's power. One of the impromptu demos done was an engine out procedure done while flying at Sikorsky. With a typical mission load including a fully weighted penguin missile our pilot shut down 1 engine (after obtaining the necessary approvals from the tower) and showed the aircraft's ability to maintain a hover and then did an inflight restart. Indian pilot was thrilled as this was something he did not expect to be demonstrated and had rarely done. Not sure if you know but this is a maneuver that must be done properly and our pilots are the best. Many customers are impressed with the power this aircraft provides. Finally I hosted the pilots and other flight personnel in our integration lab and gave them a run through of the weapons and how one uses the mission system to prosecute an attack. They were impressed with the ease of use and the tactical aids provided by the mission system to simplify the operators workload when setting up the attack (in India's case torpedoes and Penguin missile).
The IN team were professional in both their attitude and conduct during their visit. But, they were there to do a job and asked the right questions and pressed us for the information they needed to help insure their country gets the best product. I very much enjoyed working with them as they showed great interest and excitement in learning about the S-70B as much as I was excited to be involved in its design. We had a good rapport with them and we enjoyed hosting them for their visit.

 

[Dhairya Yadav]

Given all the problems documented with the NH90 and now the NFH90 (which is what IN would likely get) I am surprised you would say this. And let's not forget Europe and Russia are not exactly being friendly towards one another right now with the whole Ukraine situation. India needs an aircraft with the best capabilities to meet its missions, and that aircraft is the S-70B.

NH industries is owned by Airbus (France, Germany), Agusta (Italy), Fokker (Netherlands) . With the exception of Italy and Netherlands, Russia has strong and good relations with France and Germany, and procures many weapons system from France like the Mistral class , which is being built and Paris has guaranteed Moscow that Ships will be delivered, with no effect of NATO Sanctions. If you dont think this is friendly, What is ?

 

[Meriv90]

NH industries is owned by Airbus (France, Germany), Agusta (Italy), Fokker (Netherlands) . With the exception of Italy and Netherlands, Russia has strong and good relations with France and Germany, and procures many weapons system from France like the Mistral class , which is being built and Paris has guaranteed Moscow that Ships will be delivered, with no effect of NATO Sanctions. If you dont think this is friendly, What is ?

This is off-topic
Dhairya, strongest ties are with Italy, thanks to Berlusconi politics, we are tied with them from airplanes (like the Yak-130 or the fact we have 30% of sukoy civilian branch)to ships with fincantieri developing subs ans ships togther

It is really nice to have Rikbo88 here, since he is an insider (is the term correct in english)but at the same time I'm avid for a NH counterpart.

 

[Dhairya Yadav]

This is off-topic
Dhairya, strongest ties are with Italy, thanks to Berlusconi politics, we are tied with them from airplanes (like the Yak-130 or the fact we have 30% of sukoy civilian branch)to ships with fincantieri developing subs ans ships togther

It is really nice to have Rikbo88 here, since he is an insider (is the term correct in english)but at the same time I'm avid for a NH counterpart.

Okay. My mistake. Forgot about Yak-130. I love that plane, looks awesome .

 

[Immanuel]

Most interested in capability. I think they were especially impressed with the overall aircraft performance. Their time with the Turkish Navy was spent flying actual missions with a deployed aircraft with typical mission loads. These missions demonstrated the aircraft's endurance and ability to meet those specific requirements. Also impressed with the aircraft's power. One of the impromptu demos done was an engine out procedure done while flying at Sikorsky. With a typical mission load including a fully weighted penguin missile our pilot shut down 1 engine (after obtaining the necessary approvals from the tower) and showed the aircraft's ability to maintain a hover and then did an inflight restart. Indian pilot was thrilled as this was something he did not expect to be demonstrated and had rarely done. Not sure if you know but this is a maneuver that must be done properly and our pilots are the best. Many customers are impressed with the power this aircraft provides. Finally I hosted the pilots and other flight personnel in our integration lab and gave them a run through of the weapons and how one uses the mission system to prosecute an attack. They were impressed with the ease of use and the tactical aids provided by the mission system to simplify the operators workload when setting up the attack (in India's case torpedoes and Penguin missile).
The IN team were professional in both their attitude and conduct during their visit. But, they were there to do a job and asked the right questions and pressed us for the information they needed to help insure their country gets the best product. I very much enjoyed working with them as they showed great interest and excitement in learning about the S-70B as much as I was excited to be involved in its design. We had a good rapport with them and we enjoyed hosting them for their visit.

Dear, for the larger MRH contest of over 75 aircraft, LM/sikorsky are offering the MH-60 variants, should India just order more S-70 if this wins now for the larger deal or should it consider the MH-60 variants, from your experience, between the S-70 and MH-60 which ones are better?