India floats RFI for twin-engine heavy helicopters

EFFORTS TO BOOST COAST GUARD CAPABILITIES

- SIMONTINI BHATTACHARJEE

NEW DELHI: To strengthen its maritime security and humanitarian assistance response capabilities, the Defence ministry recently came out with a Request for Information (RFI) for acquiring four Twin-Engine Heavy Helicopters (TEHH) for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG).

The planned procurement is one step in an overall plan to modernise the ICG's rotary-wing fleet and boost its operational effectiveness along India's 7,500 km coastline and vast Exclusive Economic Zone.

As per the RFI, the TEHHs are planned to conduct essential tasks like search and rescue (SAR), medical evacuation, maritime firefighting, pollution response, and long-range maritime surveillance.

The helicopters will be stationed in the Indian Maritime Search and Rescue Region (ISRR), and operational ranges up to 1000 nautical miles in some areas.