NEW DELHI. In-a-first-of-its-kind, Ministry of Defence (MoD) on February 12 issued Expression of Interest (EoI) for shortlisting of potential Indian Strategic Partners and foreign OEMs for the ‘Procurement of 111 Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH) for the Indian Navy.

These helicopters will replace Chetak Helicopters and would be utilised for albeit SAR, CASEVAC, LIMO, passenger roles and torpedo drops. 95 helicopters out of 111 will be manufactured in India by the selected Indian Strategic Partner.

It may be noted here that the case was approved by Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on Auguat 25 last year. The project is likely to provide major boost to Government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative and fillip to manufacturing capability for helicopters in India.

The request for EoI from Indian private companies for participating in the project has been hosted on the MoD/Indian Navy website on February 12. However, 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.

While 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 i.e about 60 per cent of the helicopter is desired through the NUH project.

The Request for Proposal (RfP) for procurement is likely to be issued towards the end of third quarter of this year to the shortlisted Indian companies.