India plans to purchase 111 Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH) and 123 Naval Multi-Role Helicopters (NMRH) in an attempt to boost the strength of its Navy.
The Indian Defence Ministry recently issued a ‘Request For Information’ (RFI) for this purpose, saying in a statement that the NMRH, with anti-submarine warfare capabilities, would be acquired first. The ministry also said that the helicopters would be purchased under the government’s new ‘Strategic Partnership’ model.

Naval Utility Helicopter

A senior Defence Ministry official claimed that many countries, which are ready to supply helicopters to India, have shown interest in one of the biggest global tenders issued by New Delhi. The official, who wished to remain anonymous, told the media that the Narendra Modi government would allow only qualified Indian industry majors to establish long-term strategic partnerships with global original defence equipment manufacturers on the basis of the ‘Strategic Partnership’ policy. The move will help the Navy repair the helicopters in India in future, according to the official.
He explained that it would be difficult to seek technology transfer and to set up domestic manufacturing infrastructure and supply chains without long-term strategic partnerships between Indian companies and foreign manufacturers of defence equipment. The official confirmed that the government finalised four sectors – fighter aircraft, helicopters, submarines and armoured fighting vehicles, and main battle tanks – before implementing the new Strategic Partnership model.

Naval Multi-Role Helicopter

India will choose a foreign supplier of helicopters in November as the last date to respond to the RFI is October 6. The NUHs will replace the Navy’s aging fleet of Chetak helicopters. Earlier, the Navy, which is facing a shortage of helicopters, informed the government that it urgently required the NMRHs for deployment on warships.
Meanwhile, defence experts have welcomed the government’s decision to purchase 234 helicopters for the Navy, as they believe it becomes crucial for India to safeguard the Indian Ocean Region. With China planning to increase marine force by five times and deploy most of them at Gwadar port in Pakistan, India definitely has a cause of concern. According to experts, the presence of Chinese Navy in Gwadar will definitely pose a serious security threat to India and New Delhi will have no other option, but to deploy more naval fleets in Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal.

When the US had cleared the sale of 22 predator Guardian drones to India in June, experts appreciated the deal, worth USD 2-3 billion, saying that the drones will be a “game changer” for India against China in the Indian Ocean. The Guardian Drones will help increase India’s range to keep a watch in the Indian Ocean, thus, creating a balance of power between the two Asian neighbours, they explained.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das