21 février 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval
By: Vivek Raghuvanshi
NEW DELHI — India on Wednesday cleared the purchase of 24 Sikorsky MH-60R naval multirole helicopters through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program, according to a Ministry of Defence official.
The acquisition, which is worth about $2.12 billion, was approved by India's top defense clearance body, the Cabinet Committee on Security, which is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The MoD had approved funds for the purchase in August 2018.
The clearance comes ahead of a two-day visit to India by U.S. President Donald Trump beginning Feb. 24.
The MoD official said a formal government-to-government contract for the MH-60R helicopters will be signed once cost negotiations are finalized. No timeline has been set, but delivery will take place three years after the contract is inked, he added.
A previous attempt to buy naval multirole helos failed when the MoD canceled the planned purchase of 16 S-70B Seahawks from Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, in June 2017 following expiry of the $1 billion price tag offer.
The 2009 tender for 16 helos was sent to Sikorsky, NHIndustries, Airbus Helicopters and Russian Helicopters. The S-70B was selected over NHIndustries' NH90 helicopter in 2011; the other potential contenders did not participate.
The cost of weapons was not included in the original program, but the recently approved deal for 24 MH-60Rs does include a weapons package, according to an Indian Navy official. The helicopters are to be armed with multi-mode radar, Hellfire missiles, Mark 54 torpedoes and precision-kill rockets.
The Navy plans to use the helicopters for its front-line warships to replace its outdated British Sea King Mark 42 helicopters. They are also to be used in limited intelligence gathering roles, for surveillance missions, and in search and rescue efforts, the Navy official said, adding that the procurement of the helicopters is the top-most priority for the service. The helicopters are also expected to have the capability for conducting amphibious assault and anti-submarine warfare missions.
12 novembre 2023 | International, Aérospatial
Airbus aims to shed 750 posts as part of a newly announced reorganisation of defence and space activities, union sources said, marking an adjustment equivalent to 2% of its headcount.
5 septembre 2018 | International, C4ISR
By: Jessie Bur The Pentagon has pushed back the response deadline for its $10 billion, single-award Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract by nearly a month, according to an Aug. 31 FedBizOpps posting. The Department of Defense made amendments to five documents associated with the contract, which, according to the new posting, were part of the consideration for moving the request for proposal due date to Oct. 9, rather than the previous Sept. 17 deadline. In addition to the amended documents, the DoD released 59 industry comments and corresponding government answers about the first RFP amendment made Aug. 23. The contract has already received industry protest prior to award, after many criticized the DoD's intent to award the contract to a single cloud provider. The due date for that protest, moved to Dec. 3 after an update was made, is still well beyond the new bidding deadline. https://www.federaltimes.com/govcon/2018/09/04/dod-extends-deadline-for-its-10b-cloud-contract
29 avril 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
Last year, global military spending grew to nearly $2 trillion.