Airbus Now Sole Contender For Supplying Twin-Engine Choppers To Indian Coast Guard As Russia Pulls Out Of $1 Billion Contest

Russia has pulled out of a $1 billion contest for delivery of twin-engine helicopters to the Indian Coast Guard (ICG).

Russia's withdrawal from the contest has left European firm Airbus as the the sole vendor for the procurement process as there was no participation from US side.

The ICG requires about 14 new helicopters for surveillance tasks as well as several offshore security-related activities, reports Economic Times.

The ICG's previous attempts to procure the choppers have not worked out due to technical and commercial reasons.

The Coast Guard's last such attempt in 2018 failed after the contest was withdrawn amid allegations of leak of confidential documents.

The ongoing competition kicked off with Russia and Airbus offering their Kamov KA 32A11M and H225M helicopters respectively.

US’ apprehension from getting into this contest has surprised many given that its Sikorsky S92 fulfilled all the technical requirements in the tests that were conducted way back in 2018.

On the other hand, the Italian Leonardo Group, which was another possible contender, also couldn’t take part in this process as it was on the banned list last year, when the process began.