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Asia-Pacific Procurement Update by Pierre Delrieu
India to order 48 additional Mi-17s The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) will buy 48 additional Mil Mi17V5 medium-lift utility helicopters for the Indian Air Force (IAF) for an estimated $1.1 billion, to supplement similar aircraft that it
acquired from 2008, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported on 21 July. Originally raised at the Aero India exhibition held in Bangalore earlier this year, this new acquisition was discussed again when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir
Putin met in Ufa, southern Russia in early July. According to Russian sources, the contract should be signed later this year and with deliveries possibly commencing in 2016, after India’s MoD approves the purchase. The Indian armed forces have already ordered a total of 151 Mi-17V5s, which were delivered in two batches; an initial 80 aircraft, ordered in 2008 for $1.3 billion, and a second batch of 71, purchased in December 2012, for an estimated $1 billion. The IAF’s new Mi-17V5s were specifically ordered to replace the force’s ageing Mil Mi-8 family of medium-lift utility
Aselsan to equip Pakistan Navy’s fleet tanker with CIWS Turkish defence electronics specialists ASELSAN announced the award of a $5 million contract to supply Close-In Weapon Systems (CIWS) and communications for the Pakistan Navy’s (PN) new oiler, currently under construction. ASELSAN, which will be working in collaboration with fellow Turkish defence supplier Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik ve Ticaret (STM), announced in a statement published on
20 July that its STOP CIWS and Communication Switch System will be installed on the PN oiler in 2016. ASELSAN’s website describes STOP as “a new generation, cost-effective, medium calibre weapon for naval platforms.” It mounts a 25mm gun, either an OTO Melara 25mm KBA or Orbital ATK M242 Bushmaster 25mm cannon, on a two-axis stabilised turret. The turret also features a fire control system and accompanying optronics. In January 2013, STM signed a four-year contract with the Pakistani Ministry of Defence Production (MoDP),
in charge of managing the development of military technologies for the Pakistan armed forces. The contract stipulated that STM was to provide materiel, integrated logistic support, training tests, and trials, along with management support and consultancy for the construction of the Pakistan Navy’s new oiler, which is currently under construction at the Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works (KSEW) facility on Pakistan’s southern coast. Known as the Fleet Tanker, she will primarily
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helicopters, and to augment the fleet of 90 Mi-17IVs acquired in the late-1990s. A total of over 300 Mi-17s and older Mi-8s aircraft currently serve throughout India’s armed forces. While the delivery of the first batch of helicopters to the IAF ordered in 2008 commenced in September 2011, final deliveries for the second batch of Mi-17V5s is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. It remains unclear whether or not all, or part, of the 48 new Mi-17V5s will be configured to accommodate air-toground weapons. As part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative launched by Mr. Modi in September 2014 to encourage companies to manufacture their products in the country, the new Mi-17V5 contract will reportedly include an offset agreement which will compel the supplier to re-invest at least 30 percent of the contract’s value into Indian industry. provide logistic support to PN units at sea. At 155 metres (492 feet) in length, she displaces 15600 tonnes and is capable of reaching top speeds of 20 knots (37 kilometres-per-hour). The ship will be equipped with replenishment-at-sea equipment and a helicopter deck. She will be powered by conventional alldiesel machinery, driving controllable-pitch propellers. The ship is expected to be launched in circa 2017, based on a 48-month construction time announced by the shipbuilder.