What's The Hold Up, Eurocopter Asks Indian Army

A wire service story reports that Eurocopter has written to Indian Army chief General V.K. Singh asking him why in heck the acquisition effort for 197 reconnaissance and surveillance helicopters (RSH) remains incomplete. "We take this opportunity to express our concern regarding the time frame for the very important programme, for which the RFP was issued in July 2008. "The technical evaluation process has now taken over 38 months and has not yet been concluded due to reasons which are unknown to us," the letter opens. Not surprising. Eurocopter, which fields the AS 550 C3 Fennec has had one shock too many in the country -- in 2007, the company managed an abort just a whisker away from victory against the Bell 407 Shen. Meanwhile... Rosoboronexport went ahead and put out a statement earlier this month claiming that its Ka-226T Sergei was well poised to "defeat" Eurocopter for the Indian deal. Anyway, my sources tell me a decision is expected soon. Stay tuned.

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