India issues RFP for acquisition of 22 attack helicopters
30 May 2008
Berlin: EADS officials at the Berlin ILA 2008 air show have confirmed that the Indian government has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to acquire 22 attack helicopters. It is being given to understand that the RFP document, which includes offset clauses, was issued last week.
Companies that have received the RFP have been given three months to respond, sources said.
According to reports emerging from the ILA 2008 show, senior Eurocopter officials have confirmed the development saying that they have received the RFP and are looking into it. They also said that they are expected to reply by August.
"We will be participating in the bid process and will offer our Tiger helicopter. We are studying the RFP document and preparing our plan of action," Bruno Boulnois, general manager, Eurocopter (India) informed news agencies.
Besides Eurocopter, which is a unit of the European aerospace consortium, EADS, other major contenders for this competition are Boeing's AH-54D, Augusta Westland's AW-129 Mangusta and Russia's MI-28N Night Hunters.
According to Boulnois, the Tiger, which had day and night fighting capabilities, was designed for various kinds of missions like reconnaissance, escort, air-to-air combat, ground firing support and anti-tank warfare.
The Tiger could be fitted with roof-mounted sight and nose-mounted turret guns, besides 68mm and 70mm rockets and Hellfire anti-tank and air-to-air missiles.
