NEW DELHI: The Indian Navy on Friday started the process for leasing naval utility helicopters with the issue of a Request for Information (RFI) to foreign vendors and authorised leasing firms for 24 choppers.
The RFI document, available on the Ministry of Defence website, says that the lease will be for a period of five years and will include all maintenance support including performance-based logistics along with the training of air and maintenance crew.
According to original plans, the Indian Navy was to procure more than 100 helicopters under the strategic partnership model with private firms but those have run to rough weather. So it has decided to lease the helicopters to plug critical capability gaps.
