New Delhi: The UPA-2 government had, in its last few days in office in May this year, approved the proposed acquisition of 39 more Apache AH-64D Block-III attack helicopters from US aviation giant Boeing for the Indian Army and formation of three squadrons of these helicopters in the Army, defence sources have said.
Currently, the acquisition process for 22 Apache attack helicopters from Boeing is on for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and is understood to be in contract negotiation stage. The acceptance of necessity (AoN) cost for the acquisition of the 22 Apache attack helicopters for the IAF was Rs 3,094 crores. But the proposed acquisition of 39 more of these helicopters for the Army will mean more deals with the US aviation giant.
The previous UPA-2 government had decided in October, 2012 that all future acquisitions of attack helicopters after the ongoing acquisition process for 22 Apache helicopters would be for the Army instead of the IAF. But the IAF will get the 22 Apache helicopters for which the acquisition process is on.
