Indian Navy Issues RFI for Lease of 24 Light Helicopters - Defence News
Indian Navy (IN) issued a Request for Information (RFI) for lease of 24 light helicopters on Friday, Apr 23, 2021. HAL-manufactured ALH Mk-3 Maritime.
The Indian Navy (IN) issued a Request for Information (RFI) for lease of 24 light helicopters on Friday, Apr 23, 2021. This follows parleys with few Indian operators and OEMs starting last November. The RFI seeks responses from helicopter OEMs , authorised leasing firms, third party financiers or government-sponsored agencies for 24 helicopters with ground support equipment ( GSE ), maintenance support including Performance-based Logistics ( PBL ), and training of aircrew and maintainers. The lease will proceed along Chapter IX of the latest Defence Acquisition Procedure ( DAP 2020 ). The period of initial lease is five years, extendable by another five years, with an option to buy back the airframes at residual value. This is the first time the IN has resorted to leasing helicopters. The acute shortfall in light helicopters, low availability of obsolescent Chetaks ( Alouette IIIB ) and a Naval Utility Helicopter ( NUH ) program meandering inconclusively has likely driven IN to invoke the ‘lease’…