VVIP choppers billed at Rs 3,546 crore to ferry President, PM begin touchdown
President Pranab Mukherjee, PMManmohan Singh and other dignitaries have got another new plush and secure ride. Swanky, three-engine VVIP helicopters, with self-defence suites to guard against missiles, have quietly begun to touchdown in India.
Defence ministry sources say the first of 12 AW-101 helicopters, contracted for Rs 3,546 crore in February, 2010, arrived at the Palam airbase this week. The second and the third will be delivered next week, withthe rest coming by July, 2013.
The VVIPs may now travel in further style, having already got "desi" versions of US President's 'Air Force One' in the shape of three Boeing Business Jets (BBJs), but the helicopter deal has faced some turbulent weather in recent months.
This Indian contract with UK-based AgustaWestland, a unit of Italian major Finmeccanica, apparently figures among the ongoing investigation by Italian prosecutors into alleged financial malpractices occurring withinFinmeccanica and its subsidiaries.
But defence minister AK Antony recently told Parliament while the government was "constantly pursuing" the matter, it had not ordered any formal inquiry in the "absence of any specific information" till now.
The new helicopters will replace the ageing Russian-origin Mi-8s and Mi-17s with IAF's elite Communication Squadron, which ferries around the President, PM and other VVIPs, at the Palam airbase.
The Indian AW-101 helicopters, eight in VVIP configuration and four in non-VVIP, are not as hi-tech as Barack Obama's 'Marine One', the call sign of the Marine Corps helicopter which ferries him.
But they do have robust self-defence systems like missile-approach warners, chaff and flare dispensers and directed infra-red electronic counter-measures to protect VVIPs on board. Another concern of the Special Protection Group, which provides proximate security to PM, was the helicopters have "a high tail boom" to allow cars to come right next to the rear exit staircase without "exposing" VVIPs to a threat from anyone in the vicinity.
Moreover, the "rugged" AW-101, with crash, damage-tolerant features and "a service ceiling" of 4.5-km, will ferry only 10 passengers in the VVIP configuration instead of the usual 40. Capable of night-flying with advanced avionics and navigational aids, the three engines provide better power and safety.
The AW-101 were pitted against the American Sikorsky's S-92 Superhawk during extensive field trials held in 2008, overseen by both IAF and SPG. The subsequent contract came after the Rs 727-crore deal for five mid-size Embraer 135BJ Legacy jets in September, 2003, and the Rs 937-crore contract for the three BBJs in October, 2005, with advanced self-protection suites to guard against missiles and other threats. While the Legacy jets replaced old HS-748 Avros with the Communication Squadron, the BBJs substituted the two 737-200 aircraft bought in 1983.
Source : ET BUREAU
Swanky, three-engine VVIP helicopters, with self-defence suites to guard against missiles, have quietly begun to touch down in India.
President Pranab Mukherjee, PMManmohan Singh and other dignitaries have got another new plush and secure ride. Swanky, three-engine VVIP helicopters, with self-defence suites to guard against missiles, have quietly begun to touchdown in India.
Defence ministry sources say the first of 12 AW-101 helicopters, contracted for Rs 3,546 crore in February, 2010, arrived at the Palam airbase this week. The second and the third will be delivered next week, withthe rest coming by July, 2013.
The VVIPs may now travel in further style, having already got "desi" versions of US President's 'Air Force One' in the shape of three Boeing Business Jets (BBJs), but the helicopter deal has faced some turbulent weather in recent months.
This Indian contract with UK-based AgustaWestland, a unit of Italian major Finmeccanica, apparently figures among the ongoing investigation by Italian prosecutors into alleged financial malpractices occurring withinFinmeccanica and its subsidiaries.
But defence minister AK Antony recently told Parliament while the government was "constantly pursuing" the matter, it had not ordered any formal inquiry in the "absence of any specific information" till now.
The new helicopters will replace the ageing Russian-origin Mi-8s and Mi-17s with IAF's elite Communication Squadron, which ferries around the President, PM and other VVIPs, at the Palam airbase.
The Indian AW-101 helicopters, eight in VVIP configuration and four in non-VVIP, are not as hi-tech as Barack Obama's 'Marine One', the call sign of the Marine Corps helicopter which ferries him.
But they do have robust self-defence systems like missile-approach warners, chaff and flare dispensers and directed infra-red electronic counter-measures to protect VVIPs on board. Another concern of the Special Protection Group, which provides proximate security to PM, was the helicopters have "a high tail boom" to allow cars to come right next to the rear exit staircase without "exposing" VVIPs to a threat from anyone in the vicinity.
Moreover, the "rugged" AW-101, with crash, damage-tolerant features and "a service ceiling" of 4.5-km, will ferry only 10 passengers in the VVIP configuration instead of the usual 40. Capable of night-flying with advanced avionics and navigational aids, the three engines provide better power and safety.
The AW-101 were pitted against the American Sikorsky's S-92 Superhawk during extensive field trials held in 2008, overseen by both IAF and SPG. The subsequent contract came after the Rs 727-crore deal for five mid-size Embraer 135BJ Legacy jets in September, 2003, and the Rs 937-crore contract for the three BBJs in October, 2005, with advanced self-protection suites to guard against missiles and other threats. While the Legacy jets replaced old HS-748 Avros with the Communication Squadron, the BBJs substituted the two 737-200 aircraft bought in 1983.
Source : ET BUREAU
