US asks India to reopen Army's helicopter contract
The US wants India to reopen the $800-million contract to buy 197 helicopters for the Indian army, saying an American firm had not been given a 'fair opportunity' to bid for the deal.

Earlier this year, the government had called Eurocopter, part of European consortium EADS, for price negotiations after rejecting US aviation major Bell's 407 helicopter on technical grounds, after several rounds of trials during 2004-05. The US authorities have raised questions about the grounds on which the Bell helicopter was disqualified. Defence minister A K Antony had clarified on Tuesday that the deal was "still under process".

The Army had projected a need for 197 helicopters for its aviation corps in 1999. Bell, Eurocopter and Russia's Kamov responded to the defence ministry's request for information. Kamov later dropped out of the race and the Army conducted trials with the Bell 407 and Eurocopter's Fennec. Kohler said Bell was prepared to field its helicopters for fresh trials.
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US firms to lobby for Indo-US N-deal?
Large American corporations like GE and Boeing, as well as a prominent trade body are willing to launch a lobbying campaign to persuade the Congress to bless the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, as soon as the two countries reach a compromise on the terms, US media reports indicate.

Leading US firms like GE, Boeing, Pratt and Whitney and Lockheed Martin are already trying to overtake their Russian and European rivals for a $10-billion sale of 126 fighter jets to India. There are many companies that see the Indian defence market as potentially worth a great deal of money.

Washington DC-based law firm Patton-Boggs is lobbying American lawmakers on behalf of more than 200 US companies interested in India. It says a speedy resolution of the 123 Agreement in Washington this week could swing the momentum in favour of increased trade.

Up to 40 different nuclear power plants that can be built in the next four years, and many US companies would like to get such contracts. The Russians and French already have a leg up in this field, but a successful 123 deal could change all that.

"This deal will be huge for US companies," Ron Somers, the head of the US-India Business Council in the US Chamber of Commerce said. But many US lawmakers have vowed to oppose any deal that loosens restrictions on how India can use US-provided nuclear fuel, and this is where the lobbying campaign will be vital for its successful passage through Capitol Hill. (Read More)
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Nepal approves West Seti project for hydropower exports to India
Kathmandu: The Nepali parliamentary natural resource committee has cleared the construction of a 750 MW West Seti hydropower project in its Doti district to generate power for export to India on a commercial basis.

The panel has approved the Nepal government's decision to award the project to Australia's Snowy Mountain Engineering Corporation (SMEC).

The committee has also asked the government to ensure 10-per cent free electricity from the project from SMEC or its equivalent amount of money.

SMEC has said it could build a separate 75 MW project if Nepal wants free power since it finds technical difficulty in providing 10-per cent power from the West Seti project itself due to lack of transmission facilities in the vicinity of the project.
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Six Indian Hawk AJTs ready for deployment
The first six Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers (AJTs), bought by the Indian Air Force (IAF) to train its pilots, have achieved interim acceptance, which means that the IAF agrees that the aircraft meet the standards required to allow instructor pilot and maintenance training to start.

Three of them are presently being used to teach IAF instructor pilots how to use the aircraft for training, at BAE Systems, Warton, in a partnership programme between BAE Systems and the Royal Air Force (RAF). Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) test pilots will be trained later this month.

This is part of the aircrew-training package through which 50 IAF pilots have already undergone training using the Hawk Synthetic Training Facility and RAF Hawks based at RAF Valley.

The three new IAF Hawks will be used to train IAF technicians in the Technical Training Academy at BAE Systems, Warton. These technicians will support and maintain the aircraft when it enters service with the IAF.

The six aircraft are the first of 66 new Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers being built for the IAF; the first 24 jets at the BAE Systems facilities in Brough, East Yorkshire, with flight-testing and customer acceptance taking place at Warton in Lancashire. The remaining 42 aircraft are being manufactured under licence in India, by HAL, based in Bangalore. The first aircraft will be delivered to the IAF in September 2007.
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Domestic flights: Both pilots can be foreigners
The central government has decided to allow domestic flights even if both pilots in the cockpit are foreigners. This will help airlines utilise their fleets optimally, and not keep planes grounded owing to a shortage of pilots. The present rules stipulate the presence of a trainee Indian pilot in the cockpit if both the commander and the co-pilot are foreigners, to ensure there's no communication gap between the pilots and the air traffic control (ATC), owing to a possible language barrier.

But getting trainee Indian pilots has proved difficult, especially for new airlines. So the government has decided to give 'case-by-case' clearance to expat pilots for operating domestic flights.

But the airline concerned will have to inform the aviation ministry about its programme to train Indian pilots so that the country can get the required number of flyers it requires in coming years.
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India-Malaysia aviation pact will boost tourism
Malaysian Airlines and Air India Express will be the first to benefit from an aviation pact signed between Malaysia and India recently (See: India, Malaysia open more airports to each other's airlines), which allows for unlimited direct flights to 18 airports in each country.

The pact may be a precursor to a free trade agreement (FTA) that is likely to be signed by year-end with Asean, which throws up the possibility of a big spurt in travel and trade.

The pact allows designated airlines from both countries to operate any number of services to and from tourist destinations such as Patna, Lucknow, Guwahati, Gaya, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Khajuraho, Aurangabad, Goa, Jaipur, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Amritsar, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad and Tiruchirapalli and Port Blair. The agreement also resolved the deadlock over allowing AI Express and Air Sahara (now Jetlite) to fly to Malaysia.
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