India's cancelled attack helicopter tender raises more questions

If there really was any surprise, it was the fact that India took so long to cancel its request for proposals (RFP) for 22 attack helicopters to replace its Mil Mi-25s.

New Delhi issued a RFP for 2.5 tonne twin-engined helicopter with all-weather and terrain ability in May 2008. In October, Flight International broke the news that the Bell AH-1Z Cobra and Boeing AH-64D Apache (left) helicopters had been withdrawn, leaving the Eurocopter Tiger, AgustaWestland Mangusta and Mil Mi-28 in the contest.

Bell withdrew as the AH-1Z is available only through the US government's country-to-country Foreign Military Sales (FMS) mechanism, while India wanted to deal directly with the company. Boeing pulled out saying that it had not had enough time to submit a proposal, even though India gave an eight-week extension that was sufficient for the other contenders.

Almost immediately, there was speculation that the competition could fall apart. Indian army officials were unhappy that they may not get the chance to assess two well-renowned attack helicopters, and Boeing and Bell put pressure on the defence ministry to modify its stance on procurements and allow them to return to the tender.

The speculation intensified at Aero India 2009 in Bangalore in February, with Eurocopter officials privately expressing their concerns about the tender's future, and those worries came true two weeks ago when the defence ministry cancelled the RFP. A MoD spokesman says that the three remaining contenders did not meet the requirements and that a fresh tender will be called shortly.

So we go back to square one, and a situation that is unfortunately all too familiar. India needs new aircraft to modernise its army's ageing aviation wing, but the cancellation of this RFP and a light utility helicopter tender in late 2007 means that the service has to keep making do with old equipment  while the bureaucrats get their act together.

New Delhi has to make its mind up and stick to it. If this tender was really cancelled due to "qualitative deficiencies", as the defence ministry put it, fine. But the perception remains that it caved in to internal and external pressure to include the US helicopters.

Consistently cancelling RFPs and calling for fresh tenders only makes life more difficult for its long-suffering servicemen, and burnishes India's image as a place with an extremely difficult business environment for foreign military contractors.