On paper, the figures are enough to leave any helicopter manufacturer salivating. Going by the consultations, requests for information and calls for tender currently in progress, India wants to buy at least 400 new helicopters over the coming years. A windfall for Airbus Helicopters? Maybe, but it won’t all be plain sailing.
While continuing to stock up on Russian Mi-17s without any competitive bidding process, the Indian Army is experiencing chronic problems in closing out the competitions currently under way. The Reconnaissance and Surveillance Helicopter (RSH) programme is a classic example. Launched by the Indian Army 10 years ago, this competition is now in its third version, during which bidders have had to resubmit their commercial proposals no less than five times!
On again, off again.
“We’ve just extended the validity of our proposal through June,” explains Olivier Lambert, senior vice-president for sales and customer relations at Airbus Helicopters. Officially, the tender process is still ongoing, though an inquiry by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) would appear to have brought proceedings to a halt even before the bids had been examined.
The competition pits the AS550 C3 Fennec against the Russian Ka-226 for a total procurement target of 197 machines, including 64 for the Indian Air Force (IAF). Airbus Helicopters has indicated that it would be prepared to consider local assembly. The ultimate goal is to replace the approximately 450 Cheetahs and Chetaks (locally built Lamas and Alouette IIIs) still in service in India and for which Airbus Helicopters has agreed to supply support until 2020.
Workload for local contractors.
The slightly heavier Light Utility Helicopter (LUH), which is to be developed by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), recently booked an order for 187 machines in order to provide workload for local contractors. The LUH will be powered by a derivative of Turbomeca’s Ardiden 1H engine. However, the first helicopters are not expected to be operational before 2018 at the earliest.
The other near-term opportunity is the Twin-Engine Heavy Helicopter (TEHH) programme. A Request for Proposals has been issued for 14 heavy machines for the Indian Coast Guard, and this is expected to lead to field evaluation trials (FET) over the coming weeks and months. Airbus Helicopters is proposing its EC225 in competition with Sikorsky’s S-92. Both machines are being offered in conventional SAR configurations.
Naval Multi-Role Helicopter.
The EC225 is also being proposed for the Naval Multi-Role Helicopter (NMRH) programme. A request for information covering the acquisition of 123 (locally produced) machines has been sent to all the leading helicopter builders with a view to equipping the Indian Navy with a machine capable of performing logistics, anti-surface, anti-submarine and assault transport missions. NH Industries is proposing the NH90-NFH, which — like the EC225 — will necessitate some additional development work to fully comply with the specifications. These include integration of Indian-built equipment (sonar, mission systems, etc).