IAF’s selection of Boeing Apache Longbow advanced attack helicopter for its combat chopper tender signals an end to the chequered history of its long hunt for a modern attack helicopter to augment the Mi-25/Mi-35 fleet

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has selected Boeing’s Apache Longbow advanced attack helicopter for its combat chopper tender. RIA Novosti news agency reported from Moscow on October 25 that the other competitor, Russia’s Mi-28N Night Hunter, had lost the competition. It quoted an unnamed Indian Defence Ministry source as saying that the US helicopter showed better performance while the Russian machine did not meet the tender requirements. While there is no official confirmation, it was stated that the IAF’s assessment report had been accepted by the Defence Ministry. However, no details were given. The IAF has a tender for 22 combat helicopters with no options at this juncture.

If the news of Boeing’s Apache Longbow selection is indeed true—and there are at present no indicators to the contrary—it would signal an end to the chequered history of the IAF’s long hunt for a modern attack helicopter, to augment/replace its old inventory of obsolescent Mi-25/Mi-35 attack helicopters of Russian origin. It may be recalled that the IAF had equipped two units namely, No. 125 HU (the Gladiators) and 104 HU (Firebirds), respectively with these helicopters to provide rotary wing combat support to the Indian Army. These were used very effectively by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) during Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka. However, due to severe limitations in the vertical envelope (maximum three km in the armed role), during the 1999 Indo-Pak Kargil conflict, these proved to be totally ineffective against high-altitude targets—practically all of which were located at heights 4.5 km or more above sea level. This led to the IAF’s search for a true all-weather, day and night capable attack helicopter that could operate round the clock in the plains as well as in the high-altitude mountainous terrain.

The search for a suitable attack helicopter finally progressed to the stage of issuing a global request for proposal (RFP) on May 23, 2008, to the leading manufacturers of combat helicopters such as AgustaWestland, Boeing, Eurocopter, Kazan and Bell Helicopter. However, for a variety of reasons, the Indian Government received replies from only three companies, Bell and Boeing having withdrawn from the competition. Ironically, none of the remaining competitors could pass muster on the technical evaluation front vis-à-vis the ‘staff qualitative requirements’ set by the government, and their offers were therefore, rejected. The RFP was cancelled on March 9, 2009, but contrary to the IAF’s fears of long bureaucratic delays, it was reissued within three months on May 25.

It took more than two years thereafter with many a glitch reappearing, such as Bell withdrawing again from the competition, etc, but it appears that the final hurdles have been overcome to announce Boeing’s AH-64 Apache Longbow as the final winner. It was inevitable that a highly capable combat system such as the ‘Apache’ would score heavily against its nearest rival in the race, Russia’s Mi-28N Night Hunter.

At the heart of the fully integrated AH-64D Apache’s fully integrated weapon system is the Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman AN/APG-78 Longbow mast-mounted 360 degree radar presenting up to 256 targets in speed, distance and direction on tactical situation display in both air-toground and air-to-air modes with swift engagement capability, as required. The twin-engine tandem seat Apache is operated by two pilots, and can execute an attack within 30 seconds of an alert. The Apache is well-equipped to survive in the modern battlefield military operation, thanks to its stateof-the-art defensive electronic warfare protection suite, but where it would really surpass the Russian Mi-28N is its capability to carry air-to-ground and air-to-air ‘fire and forget’ missiles and other weapon systems.