Airbus Helicopters made separate presentations with each of its six local vendors to the navy between March 30 and April 1.
However, the desperate move by Airbus has the Indian Navy cautious. This is because some of the demands from the multinational made during the presentations were in deviation of Defence Procurement Procedure, 2013. Key changes requested by Airbus include 100% credits even if 30% Indian content is achieved, full management control with 51% or higher equity stake and complete discretion on technology transfer.
During the recently concluded Aero India, vice-president for sales and customer relations in India told “Airbus Helicopters has initiated the process to get approval for a joint venture with an Indian partner to manufacture helicopters in India, with a majority stake held by the European company. And the company is going to compete for an order for NUH to replace the Chetak, with the AS565 MBe Panther.”
The navy has been facing a severe shortage of helicopters with its continuing induction of new warships. Currently, the navy has 42 vessels on order in addition to warships already in service, most of which will require between 01-02 helicopters on board. The navy uses the Chetak (Alouette III), Ka-28, Sea King, Ka-31 and the Dhruv advanced light helicopter.
The navy has received as many as 10 bids from Indian companies for the NUH programme.
financialexpress
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