MoD seeks bids for 111 Navy utility helicopters

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 12 

The Ministry of Defence on Tuesday asked Indian and foreign companies to submit an expression of interest to make specialised naval copters. Called the naval utility helicopters (NUH), the MoD wants 111 of these.

The MoD has asked foreign companies and also potential Indian companies which will be their ‘strategic partners’ to submit bids or expression of interest (EoI).

The new ones will replace Chetak helicopters and will be utilised for search and rescue, casualty evacuation, light maritime operations, passenger roles and also dropping torpedo.

Out these 111 copters, 95 will be manufactured in India by the selected strategic partner. The case was approved by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC). The project worth Rs 21,738 crore is likely to provide a ‘Make in India’ initiative and fillip to manufacturing capability for helicopters in India. 

At present, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL is the only company producing copters.  The request for EoI from Indian private companies for participating in the project has been hosted on the MoD website. The foreign manufacturers have been mandated to set up dedicated manufacturing line, including design, integration and manufacturing processes, for NUH in India. 

Prospective bidders

• Indian firms expected to respond are Tata Advanced Systems, Mahindra Defence, Adani Defence, Larsen & Toubro, Bharat Forge and Reliance Infrastructure
• Foreign manufactures expected to respond are US majors Lockheed Martin and Bell helicopters, European Airbus Helicopters and the Russian Rosoboronexport