Aerospace Diary

ROTORHUB 02 January 2014 - 11:12 by  Neelam Mathews  in New Delhi India has terminated the  $750 million agreement  signed with AgustaWestland in 2010 for 12 AW101 VVIP/VIP helicopters  on the grounds of a breach of the pre-contract Integrity Pact.  The termination, which comes into ...,,,,.read more in RotorHub (subscription)

Neelam Mathews April 19, 2013 We're told Augusta Westland AW 101s VVIP helios contract is ‘on hold’. Interestingly, the contract does not have this clause and there is no laid out document that describes the two deadly words! Incidentally, also on hold are ten containers from AW lying in the customs for weeks containing spares, tools, consumables. What is the guarantee that water leakage is not happening already or that the heat may affect solvents etc that might be in the containers? Can there be some sanity to the idiom ‘on hold’ here? Who will pay for this ultimately, one wonders? Not difficult to fathom! A definition on the net describes ‘On Hold’ –“ to stop all activity or communication with someone” and also “to postpone something; to stop the progress of something,” and I can bet a wager there are hundreds more. So while India might consider it to mean ALL its dealings stop in the interim, AW might not. Word has it they are sticking to the schedule for delivery...

Neelam Mathews Nov 1, 2012 To award or not to award is the question for the MoD. Even as it reaches a mental roadblock on how to move on the VVIP Augusta Westland helicopters that it has already paid 40% advance for. Strangely, the same scandal that broke in Italy, may have helped eased its decision on (perhaps) scrapping the ill-fated 197 army reconnaissance and surveillance helicopter bid. The  people mentioned in the AW issue were also those involved in the trials of the RSH helios.   “If this is proved true, MoD might have no choice to scrap the 197 bid and move ahead with the VVIP helios till the cooked up probe is over,” says an official close to the subject. There are increasing loud whispers in the defense community that there isn’t enough transparent interaction between the MoD and OEMs. “The government can’t lose this money and will need to figure out the termination provision…the point is they’ll never get the money back. So the only way out will be to k...