In a first, the Ministry of Defence on Tuesday issued the Expression of Interest (EoI) for short-listing of potential Indian strategic partners and foreign original equipment manufacturer (OEMs) for the procurement of 111 Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH), for the Indian Navy.
According to Defence Ministry, the newly acquired helicopters will replace Chetak choppers and NUH will be utilised for Search and Rescue (SAR),causality evacuation, passenger roles and torpedo drops.
Out of 111 helicopters, 95 will be manufactured in India by the selected Indian strategic partner.
The need for NUH helicopters was approved by the Defence Acquisition Council on August 25. The project is likely to provide major boost to ‘Make in India’ initiative and fillip to manufacturing capability for helicopters in India.
‘The Request for EoI from foreign OEMs has been forwarded to companies that participated in the request for information (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,’ the Defence Ministry said.
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.
‘High level of indigenisation that is about 60 per cent 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,’ the Ministry further said.
