Think Tank: Indian Government Clarifies Helicopter Procurements

AW101 (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons)

Indian government has been under flak for delays in procurement of helicopters, which are being acquired for all the three services, Army, Navy and Air Force as well as for the Coast Guard. The government responded to allegations of corruption and delays in the parliament on 05 December stating that there was progress in various cases including probing of allegations of corruption and those things will fall in place. 

It was clarified that the contract for procurement of 12 AW 101 helicopters was signed with M/s Agusta Westland International Limited, UK on 8th February 2010. The technical specifications were drawn before the issue of Request for Proposal (RFP) in September 2006. The technical specifications have not been modified since the issue of RFP in September 2006. The clarification was necessary as some reports in the media had indicated that there were modifications made to the RFP.   

After Italy has apparently not provided information of the corruption in the Augsta Westland case it is reported that a request from the Ministry of Defence was made to the Ministry of External Affairs to take up case with the United Kingdom (UK). UK authorities have informed that they have not launched any investigation and are presently awaiting the results of the Italian investigation in order to ascertain whether any further action needs to bet aken.

On the all important decision of the 197 Light Utility Helicopters (LUHs), the Ministry said that it has not deferred its decision of purchasing the helicopters and the procurement case is under examination. The Defence Procurement Procedure lays down stringent guidelines to effect utmost probity and transparency in procurement transactions. It is not a fact that these helicopters were to be purchased from Government of Italy. In the context of an allegation against one service officer, as appearing in the media, information has been sought from the Government of Italy. Quite apparently it appears that the case will now wait till the reports in the media that a Brigadier had demanded $ 5 million from Augusta Westland in the 197 LUH deal though its helicopter did not pass the trial stage. The Ministry of Defence has also not clarified on the extra ordinary delay in finalizing the deal which has seen cancellation of selection once and may face another one.

On the heavy lift helicopters the Ministry of Defence has clarified that,  “In the proposal initiated by Indian Air Force (IAF) for procurement of 15 Heavy Lift Helicopters, M/s Boeing with Chinook Helicopter has emerged as the L1 Vendor. The cost of the Contract would depend upon outcome of the Contract negotiation with the L1 Vendor, which has not yet concluded. The Field Evaluation Trials for these Helicopters conducted by the Indian Air Force have found them to be compliant with all the stated Air Staff Qualitative Requirements (ASQRs)”. Hopefully this and the attack helicopter deal which has also been won by Boeing should fructify in a short time.

This Article first appeared on Security Risks and is reposted here under a Creative Commons license.