The Indian Coast Guard has issued requests for information (RFI) for 16 ship-borne helicopters and 14 shore-based helicopters.
These would primarily be for search and rescue (SAR) missions, although the service also wants the helicopters to have attack capabilities.
The 16 ship-borne helicopters are for maritime surveillance, SAR and tactical ground attack missions, says the Coast Guard 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 4 June deadline for responses to its RFI for 14 twin-engine shore-based helicopters. Each helicopter must have a MTOW of 12t.
These should also be able to operate from its offshore patrol vessels and advanced offshore vessels with a reduced MTOW of 10t, it adds.
They would be used for maritime patrol, SAR activities and tactical ground attack missions, it adds.
The RFIs require the both types of helicopters to have hard points for gun mounts that can take both 7.62mm and 12.7mm guns. It also wants the shore-based helicopters to be able to integrate 20/30mm cannons.
India's coast guard operates Hindustan Aeronautics Dhruv helicopters and Aérospatiale SA316 Alouette IIIs. It also has Dornier 228 fixed-wing aircraft.
Source: Flight International
