India to lease naval helicopters in the interim
The Indian Navy's Chetak utility helicopters are well overdue for replacement. (Gordon Arthur)
With roadblocks in its Naval Utility Helicopter programme, India's Navy sees leasing as a potential stop-gap solution.
The Indian Navy’s (IN) Naval Utility Helicopter (NUH) programme is years old but it has made little discernible progress. However, the project took another fork in the road when an RfI was released on 23 April to lease 24 utility helicopters.
Directed at OEMs, leasing firms and government export agencies, the RfI noted that the leasing period is for an initial five years, and will include the helicopters as well as maintenance support, performance-based logistics, ground support equipment and crew training.
This effort is one of the first after the MoD approved the leasing model by modifying the Defence Acquisition
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