An agreement for supply of the AS 550 Fennec helicopters for Indian Navy may follow as the latter has expressed interest in acquiring these, officials of the company said here. “We are in final phase of having a deal to supply 197 (Fennec) light helicopters for the Indian Army.

The contract is expected to be signed by the end of the year,” EADS Senior Vice-President for South Asia, Allain Letanoux, told a group of Indian journalists here.

The deal will involve transfer of technology,  he said.

Though Letanoux did not specify the monetary volume of the contract, the deal is believed to be worth $ 600 million. Under the understanding between the two sides, 67 helicopters manufactured in France will be purchased outright while the rest will be built jointly with the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

The Fennec helicopter holds  a record in flying in mountainous regions and was the only of its kind to successfully land on top of Mount Everest recently, EADS officials say.

Trials successful
A series of trials of the helicopter before deciding on signing the deal proved that they are capable of day and night military operations and cover a mission spectrum including attack, training, cargo, transport and medical evacuation.

A Fennec chopper can transport 25 commandos to altitudes of 4,000 metres.

The Army Aviation Corp has been seeking new helicopters to ferry loads of up to 75 kg to troops based at high altitudes in Siachen and other mountain peaks in Jammu and Kashmir.

Operation at these high altitudes has always been a challenging task for helicopters as their rotor lift decreases substantially due to thinning of air in such areas.

According to sources, America’s Bell Helicopters and Russia’s Kamov were also in the race to get the contract.
EADS already has a presence in India as it is working with HAL in development of light helicopters.

The two partners are working to expand their cooperation into new market segments for which a joint analysis of mid-term and long-term strategies on aerospace business will be conducted in the near future.

Eurocopter is willing to associate with HAL for development of 10T helicopters, which the Indian defence company plans to co-develop with a foreign partner to meet the requirements of the Indian armed forces and also to satisfy requirements of global customers.