Indian Navy Gets The Breakthrough As Defence Ministry Issues Expression of Interest For The Procurement of 111 Naval Utility Helicopters

Indian Navy's modernization gets the biggest boost as MoD has finally issued Expression of Inter est for the 111 Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH), mandating the bulk of manufacturing in India.

MoD has issued the Expression of Interest for shortlisting of potential Indian Strategic Partners and foreign OEMs for the ‘Procurement of 111 Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH) for the Indian Navy on 12 Feb 19. These helicopters will replace Chetak Helicopters and will be utilised for albeit SAR, CASEVAC, LIMO, passenger roles and torpedo drops. 

 The fact that 95 helicopters out of 111 will be manufactured in India by the selected Indian Strategic Partner, is the breakthrough in the indigenization. The case was approved by DAC on 25 Aug 18. The project is likely to provide major boost to Govt’s ‘Make in India’ initiative and fillip to manufacturing capability for helicopters in India. 

The Request for EXPRESSION OF INTEREST  from Indian private companies for participating in the project has been hosted on the MoD/Indian Navy website on 12 Feb 19. according the the spokesperson, the Request for EoI from foreign OEMs has been forwarded to companies that participated in the RFI deliberations. The OEMs have been mandated to set up dedicated manufacturing line, including design, integration and manufacturing processes for NUH in India and make Indian Manufacturing Line as a global exclusive facility for the NUH platform being offered. 

Whilst Indian companies have been given two months to respond to the EoI, the foreign OEMs have been given three months for responding due to the nature of inputs required. 

According to the Spokesperson, Indian Navy, there are 7  probable Indian companies that are likely to participate in the process which includes: M/s Tata Advanced Systems Ltd, Mahindra Defence, Adani Defence, L&T, Bharat Forge and Reliance Infrastructure . 

The Indian companies would be shortlisted based on their capability of system of system integration, facility in the aerospace domain and financial capability. 

The foreign OEMs likely to participate in the project are Lockheed Martin, Airbus Helicopters, Bell Helicopters and RoE. High level of indigenisation i.e about 60% of the helicopter is desired through the NUH project. The RFP for procurement is likely to be issued towards the end of third quarter of this year to the shortlisted Indian companies