AAH Advanced Attack Helicopter
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is seeking to acquire 2.5 tonne twin-engine helicopters. The aircraft are intended to replace the ageing Mil Mi-25 and Mi-35 fleets. The helicopter was to be highly agile with advanced anti-armor capability, and include provision for a turret gun of 20mm or higher calibre and be able to fire 70mm rockets at a range of 1.2 kilometers. The IAF wanted the helicopter to be able to employ air-to-ground, fire-and-forget missiles with a range of at least seven km, fitted with state-of-the-art electronic warfare protection suite and carry a radar warning receiver capable of intercepting, identifying and prioritising multiple airborne and ground-based radio frequency emitters. Other requirements include all-weather, all-terrain, day-and-night operations capabilities.
The contract was to take effect by 2010 and be completed by May 2011. The 22 attack helicopters were to be bought at a cost of USD 25 million per platform, including weapons. The vendor was expected to provide a 30 per cent offset working out to USD 165 million of the total cost of USD 550 million. The May 2008 RFP stipulated that two helicopters should be supplied within 24 months of signing the contract, with final delivery in 36 months.
In May 2008 the Defence Ministry sent the Request for Proposals (RFP) to AgustaWestland, Boeing, Eurocopter, Khazan and Bell Helicopter. Initially seven companies participated in the tender: AgustaWestland’s AW129, Bell’s AH-1Z SuperCobra, Boeing’s AH-64D Apache Longbow, Eurocopter’s Tiger HAD, Kamov’s Ka-50, Mil’s Mi-28 NE and the national Hindustan Aeronautics’s Light Combat Helicopter. Boeing, which offered its AH-64 Apache, refused to submit a bid when the government denied the company's request for an eight-week extension to the August 2008 deadline to submit their proposal. Bell withdrew from participation, since its AH-1Z Cobra was available for exports only through the Foreign Military Sales route. The AH-1Z Cobra is no longer in production, and thus only available through government-to-government Foreign Military Sales (FMS) deals based on the conversion of existing airframes. India had insisted that it would procure the helicopter directly from the company.
This left four companies in the running: Italian-British AgustaWestland's AW-129, European consortium EADS Eurocopter's Tiger, Russian Kamov's Ka-50 and Mil's Mi-28. Only three companies' finally offered helicopters: Eurocopter, AgustaWestland and Kamov submitted bids by the August 2008 deadline.
On 24 March 2009 the Defense Ministry retracted the tender issued in May 2008 for the purchase of 22 attack helicopters for the Indian Air Force (IAF). The government would initiate a new tendering process to procure the helicopters. The Request for Proposals (RFP) was retracted and cancelled as the three offers received from foreign companies did not meet the Staff Qualitative Requirements set by the government. Consequently, the IAF's plans to operationalise the 22 attack helicopters beginning 2010 could be delayed beyond 2012.
