Boeing signs the chopper deal with India

Boeing's helicopters now will be a reality for India

•  22 Apache attack helicopters and 15 Chinook heavy-lift choppers for India.

By Sangeeta Saxena

New Delhi, September. The announcement came as no surprise and the long wait came  to an end. A few hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for the United States, the Cabinet Committee for Security, Government of India, approved two major defence deals with the US. 15 Chinook heavy lift helicopters and 22 Apache attack helicopters, are all set to become a part of the Indian inventory.

Ministry of Defence spokesperson Sitanshu Kar announced on his official Twitter page,  “Contract for purchase of 15 Chinook and 22 Apache helicopters signed.”

According to officials, the deal value is worth about $3 billion (Rs 19,800 crore) and would be completed in four years. The agreements were signed in the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence in South Block. The deals ensures that the U.S. will be the top military supplier for the Indian armed forces for this and the coming decade.

India will receive 22 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters and 15 CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters. Both are the newest models of those aircraft.

President Boeing India, Pratyush Kumar

“This is a milestone in Boeing’s expanding commitment to India,” said Pratyush Kumar, president, Boeing India. “This acquisition enhances the Indian Air Force’s capabilities and offers us an opportunity to further accelerate ‘Make in India.’ Large sections of the Chinook fuselage are already manufactured in India and discussions are ongoing with our Indian partners to make Apache parts.”

Bangalore-based Dynamatic Technologies Limited is producing the first set of aft pylon and cargo ramp assemblies for Boeing’s CH-47F Chinook helicopter. 

India is the 14th nation to select the Apache and the 19th nation to select the Chinook. It may be recalled that Boeing Defense has extended the validity of its commercial bids on expected deals for 22 AH-64E Apache and 15 CH-47F Chinook helicopters till June 30.

Dennis Swanson, vice president, Defense, Space & Security in India

“The Apache and Chinook represent the best of high-performing technologies that will modernize India’s defense capabilities,” said Dennis Swanson, vice president, Defense, Space & Security in India. “We look forward to delivering the newest Apache and Chinook to our customers and remain focused on delivering on its commitments to the Indian Air Force and India’s Ministry of Defence.”

Chinook

The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is an American twin-engine, tandem rotor heavy-lift helicopter. Its primary roles are troop movement, artillery placement and battlefield resupply. It has a wide loading ramp at the rear of the fuselage and three external ventral cargo hooks. With a top speed of 170 knots (196 mph, 315 km/h) the helicopter was faster than contemporary 1960s utility helicopters and attack helicopters, and is still one of the fastest helicopter in the US inventory. The CH-47 is among the heaviest lifting Western helicopters. Its name is from the Native American Chinook people.

The Chinook was designed and initially produced by Boeing Vertol in the early 1960s; it is now produced by Boeing Rotorcraft Systems. It is one of the few aircraft of that remain in production and frontline service, with over 1,200 built to date. The helicopter has been sold to 16 nations with the U.S. Army and the Royal Air Force (see Boeing Chinook (UK variants)) being its largest users. The Indian Air Force has especially expressed an urgent need for the heavy vertical lift capability.

Apache

The Boeing AH-64 Apache is a four-blade, twin-turbo shaft attack helicopter with a tail wheel-type landing gear arrangement, and a tandem cockpit for a two-man crew. It features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night vision systems. It is armed with a 30 mm (1.18 in) M230 chain gun carried between the main landing gear, under the aircraft's forward fuselage. It has four hard points mounted on stub-wing pylons, typically carrying a mixture of AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and Hydra 70 rocket pods. The AH-64 has a large amount of systems redundancy to improve combat survivability.

The U.S. Army is the primary operator of the AH-64; it has also become the primary attack helicopter of multiple nations, including Greece, Japan, Israel, the Netherlands, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates; as well as being produced under license in the United Kingdom as the AgustaWestland Apache. U.S. AH-64s have served in conflicts in Panama, the Persian Gulf, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Israel used the Apache in its military conflicts in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip; British and Dutch Apaches have seen deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence to make 197 Kamovs

By Sangeeta Saxena       

New Delhi. In yet another feather in Anil Ambani led Reliance Group’s already full cap, the company has signed a Rs 6,000-crore ($925 million) deal to make 197 Kamov helicopters for the Indian defence forces.

               

Matching steps with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India initiative, this will be executed under a Joint Venture between Kamov and the chopper arm of Reliance Defence post acquiring an industrial licence. It may be recalled that the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar cleared the proposal in May, 2015.The Maharashtra government on recently alloted 289-acre land in Mihan SEZ, Nagpur,  to Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group. The land has been allotted to Reliance Aerostructure — the defence arm of Reliance ADA Group. On this land, the Reliance ADA Group plans to build world-class Dhirubhai Ambani Aerospace Park (DAAP), which will set up assembly lines and manufacturing facilities of fixed wing aircrafts, aerostructure for commercial transport aircraft, Helicopters for defence and commercial use.

During the Russia-India conference on after-sales service for Russian-made helicopters recently, Russian Helicopters (part of State Corporation Rostec) proposed developing the after-sales service provision for Russian-made helicopters operated in India.

A long-term contract between India’s Army, Navy and Home Affairs Ministry and Russian Helicopters is one of the steps envisaged as part of these improvements to the after-sales system. This contract will have a term from three to five years and will boost cooperation on after-sales service for helicopters, while also making it possible to establish a system for further cooperation under contracts.

Another key step in further developing after-sales service systems for Russian-made helicopters operated in India involves delivering the latest ground-based service and equipment testing facilities, improving these operations and automating a number of technical maintenance and helicopter repair procedures.

It may be recalled that Russian Helicopters signed a generic MoU with Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence and Aerospace, under which the Reliance Group is pursuing most of its defence ventures. This MoU is not directed towards any specific contract, but speaks of broad-ranging cooperation in helicopter building.

Russian Helicopters plans to build new infrastructure and upgrade existing facilities for the maintenance and repair of Russian-made helicopters. The first step will focus on modernising helicopters already supplied, in particular their gears, fuel system, radio-navigation equipment and communications systems, fitting them with new engines and auxiliary power units, and also modernising helicopters to boost protection against terrorist threats.