The Indian coastguard has issued requests for information for 16 shipborne and 14 shore-based helicopters.
The aircraft would primarily be for search and rescue missions, although the service also wants the helicopters to have attack capabilities. The 16 shipborne helicopters are for maritime surveillance, SAR and tactical ground attack missions, says the coastguard in its tender document. Each helicopter must have a maximum take-off weight of 6.5t, it adds.
The service wants interested parties to respond to the RFI by 3 June, and says that it is working on a request for proposals. It has set a deadline of 4 June for responses to its RFI for 14 twin-engined shore-based helicopters. Each helicopter must have a MTOW of 12t and should be able to operate from its offshore patrol vessels and advanced offshore vessels with a reduced MTOW of 10t, it adds.
India's coast guard operates Hindustan Aeronautics Dhruv helicopters, Aerospatiale SA316 Alouette IIIs and Dornier 228 twin-engined turboprops.
Source: Flight International
