India to acquire 22 attack helicopters

BERLIN: In a bid to strengthen the offensive prowess of its armed forces, Indian government has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to acquire 22 attack helicopters.
    
The RFP document, which includes offset clauses, was issued last week to major global helicopter manufacturers who were given three months time to respond, sources said here.
    
Confirming this, a senior Eurocopter official said "we have received the RFP and are looking into it. We have 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 of Eurocopter (India) said.
    
Besides Eurocopter which is part of the defence and aviation consortium EADS, the other major contenders for this competition are Boeing's AH-54D, Augusta Westland's AW-129 Mangustu and Russia's MI-28N NightHunters.
    
The Eurocopter has been involved with Indian Army and the Air Force for several decades now, with its Chetaks and Cheetahs flying in several areas, particularly in high mountainous terrains.
    
These choppers are the mainstay of the forces situated in the high altitude areas, including Siachen, both for supplies and transportation.
    
Boulnois said 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.
    
This chopper 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.