Last year, an Request for Proposal was floated for 22 attack helicopters to replace the ageing fleet of Mi-35 of the Indian Air Force (IAF). Initially, six foreign machines were in the race—AW129 Mangusta from AgustaWestland, Bell’s AH-1Z Super Cobra, Boeing’s AH-64D Apache Longbow, Eurocopter’s Tiger HAD (EC 665), Kamov’s Ka-50 and the Mi-28 NE from Mil Moscow marketed by Rosoboronexport.

In view of the IAF’s plans to deploy the new machines by 2010, there was a degree of urgency and hence, the procurement process was put on fast track by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Miffed with the Indian government’s refusal to accede to its request for extension of deadline to submit response to the RFP, Boeing opted out of the race. Bell Helicopter also followed suit as the out-of-production AH-1Z Cobra was available only through government-togovernment Foreign Military Sales involving conversion of existing airframes. Bell Helicopter, therefore, was unable to bid for direct sale of new machines. As revealed by the MOD, the products offered by the remaining four companies, two from Europe and two from Russia, did not measure up to the stipulated Qualitative Requirements.