span class=”BTX” A month after scrapping a 600-million-dollar deal to buy nearly 200 helicopters, India is now seeking bidders for an even bigger contract worth almost one billion dollars, officials said on Tuesday.p New Delhi earlier this month contacted four aviation firms in France, Italy, Russia and the United States, asking about their ability to supply 312 helicopters for the armed forces on an “urgent” basis, defence officials said./pp “Letters of interest have been sent to Kamov (Russia), Bell (US), Augusta Westland (Italy) and Eurocopter (France) expressing our urgent requirements,” a senior defence ministry official said, asking not to be named./pp State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), meanwhile, joined the race, stating that as India’s largest aircraft manufacturer, it had the capacity to build light observation helicopters for the army and the air force./pp India last month scrapped a 600-million-dollar deal for 197 helicopters with Eurocopter, the helicopter unit of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), after accusing it of “deviating” from the contract./pp Eurocopter, the global leader in sales of civil and military helicopters, has denied any wrongdoing and has rejected allegations it used middlemen to clinch the now-dead deal./pp India banned the use of middlemen in military contracts following allegations of bribery in a multi-billion-dollar artillery deal in the 1980s with Swedish firm Bofors. That scandal led to the downfall of the government of then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1989./pp Earlier this month, the Indian air force added its requirement of 115 helicopters to the 197 units the army wanted, pushing the value of the deal to almost one billion dollars and the number of aircraft to 312./pp “A combined global tender will be issued in a few months’ time after we receive a response from the four companies,” the ministry official said./pp The new helicopters would replace the vintage fleet of French- and Russian-built light helicopters bought in the 1960s for the million-plus army and the air force./pp The December 6 cancellation of the Eurocopter deal caused dismay in India’s military establishment, as the services need modern helicopters for high-altitude missions in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir./pp Indian officials said the defence ministry stressed the need for speedy deliveries in a recent meeting with representatives of the four aviation firms./pp “The sudden death of the Eurocopter contract was a jolt to our planned six-year procurement plans and now we want to make up for lost time,” the military official told AFP./pp India had selected the Eurocopter 350B3 reconnaissance model over Bell’s LongRanger after an intensive testing period. /pp India, which also invited tenders last year for 126 fighter jets worth 10 billion dollars, has emerged as one of the biggest buyers of military equipment among developing countries./pp Since 1999, India’s military purchases have been worth a massive 25 billion dollars. It is likely to spend another 30 billion dollars by 2012, according to defence experts./ppSource: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/India_seeks_bidders_for_new_chopper_deal_source_999.htmlbr //p/span

div class=”story-para”NEW DELHI — India-Israeli defense ties are threatening to blow up into a major political controversy here as the parties on the political left, whose support the government needs to remain in power, have severely criticized the Jan. 21 launch of an Israeli spy satellite from Indian territory./div div class=”story-para”The left parties want the Indian government to describe the scope of the India-Israeli satellite tie-ups./div div class=”story-para”“The UPA government is keeping a shameful silence on this criminal blockade by Israel. It is instead collaborating with Israel to enhance its military capability. The launch of an Israeli satellite from Sriharikota shows how India is aiding military efforts of Israel,” the Communist Party of India polit bureau said in a statement./div div class=”story-para”The Israeli spy satellite was launched aboard an Indian-built rocket. India has been on a global hunt to acquire a military satellite and had been discussing with Tel Aviv the lease of the Ofeq 5 spy satellite. There are no details available on the specifications of the Israeli satellite, but sources in the Indian Defence Ministry said the Israeli satellite has a very high resolution./div div class=”story-para”The Indian government will find it difficult to give the details sought by the parties on the left on the Israeli-Indian space program because most involve co-development of critical technologies, like the development of India’s homegrown anti-ballistic missile system with Israeli help and the co-development of a 1,000-kilometer-range cruise missile./div

div class=”story-para”The Iraqi air force could be flying fighter jets by 2011, the U.S. Air Force’s top commander for Iraqi operations said Jan. 15./div div class=”story-para”Lt. Gen. Gary North, head of the 9th Air Force, explained during a talk in Washington, D.C., that he envisioned the Iraqi air force having its own fighter jets by 2011 or 2012. The fighter model or its capabilities would be up to Iraqi commanders to decide, North added./div div class=”story-para”The Iraqi military won’t get there without more help from the U.S. Air Force. North said that in 2008 the number of U.S. Air Force advisors working with their Iraqi counterparts should double to about 400 airmen./div div class=”story-para”The Iraqi air force hasn’t flown a fighter since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003. The invasion left what fighters Iraq had either destroyed on the ground of rendered useless when the Iraqi military buried many of the jets to keep them from becoming targets./div div class=”story-para”Today, the Iraqi air force flies a mix propeller-driven airplanes and helicopters that primarily used as transports and reconnaissance aircraft./div div class=”story-para”North said a first step to the Iraqi air force flying attack jets is adding weapons to its fleet of Cessna Caravans and Beechcraft King Air 350s and then acquiring a “light attack” airplane. Many of the Iraqi’s helicopters are already equipped with guns./div

div class=”story-para”North Korea has accused the U.S. and South Korea of carrying out more than 2,000 spy flights over its territory last year./div div class=”story-para” The official Korean Central News Agency, quoting a military source, said late Dec. 31 the combined U.S. and South Korean espionage flights reached 180 in December to total more than 2,250 this year./div div class=”story-para” The agency said the aerial reconnaissance peaked when U.S. and South Korean troops launched “military exercises for aggression” in August./div div class=”story-para” “Keeping pace with the U.S. imperialists’ aerial espionage, the South Korean military warmongers let two or three RC-800 and RF-4C fly in the sky… for madcap aerial espionage every day in the year,” it said./div div class=”story-para” Seoul and Washington say their annual drills are purely defensive./div div class=”story-para” North Korea has routinely reported the alleged spy flights, while U.S. and South Korean military authorities have refused to comment./div div class=”story-para” North and South Korea remain technically at war after the 1950-1953 Korean conflict ended in an armistice and not a peace treaty./div div class=”story-para” Currently, about 28,000 U.S. troops support the South’s 680,000 against any threat from the North’s 1.1 million-member military./div