By Vishnu Makhijani, IANS
New Delhi : The Indian Air Force (IAF) is to soon examine a quotation it has received from Russia for the supply of 80 Mi-17-1V multi-utility helicopters to add to the 140-odd machines currently in its fleet.
“The quotation has been received and will soon be examined, hopefully before the year is out,” an official source told IANS. News of the deal emerged as Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony ended a visit to Moscow Oct 18, his first to Russia after assuming office a year ago.
The Indian government had earlier cleared the IAF proposal for the $900-million deal and allocated $700 million to upgrade the existing choppers in the fleet.
“We had the option of looking at other machines that might be technically more advanced but opted for the repeat order route to speed up the process,” the source told IANS, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The alternative would have been to float fresh requests for proposals (RFPs) but that would have delayed the process by up to four years. This is because the RFPs would have first to be drawn up and the resultant bids examined.
Thereafter, intense tests would have had to be conducted in a variety of environments like the deserts of Rajasthan and the icy heights of Jammu and Kashmir before short-listing one contender. Price negotiations would then have to be conducted before a contract was finally signed.
Besides, negotiations would also have to be conducted on issues like offsets and transfer of technology for the licensed production of the helicopters in India. These are mandated in India’s new defence procurement procedures enunciated in 2006.
“This process could have taken up to four years. Opting for the repeat order enables us to go straight to the price negotiation stage,” the source explained.
“We do anticipate some hard negotiations (on the price). But given the manner in which a similar issue relating to the (IAF’s) purchase of 40 additional (Sukhoi) Su-30 (combat jets) has been resolved, we are confident of success.”
India had purchased some 70 Su-30s a decade ago. All of these have been upgraded to the superior MKI variant and have entered squadron service with the IAF.
State-owned aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) was to have manufactured another 140 jets in Nashik in Maharashtra. However, with only 21 aircraft manufactured so far, the government earlier this year approved the purchase of another 40 Su-30MKIs in flyaway condition.
The issue, however, got bogged down over an increase in the escalation rate the Russians had been demanding. The issue was resolved just ahead of Antony’s trip.
The Russians had been demanding cost escalation of 5-7 percent and wanted the money to be paid in euros. India eventually agreed to an annual cost escalation of four percent over the three years it will take to deliver the planes.
“We suppose the same formula will be adopted in the case of the fresh helicopter order,” the official source maintained.