A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that the potential losses of business in the Indian defence market, as a result of a virtual blacklist, for Finmeccanica amount to about $10-billion in the near term. Not that it was on its way to winning, but the Navy’s multirole helicopter (MRH) programme, in which AgustaWestland JV NHIndustries participates with the NH90, could be untouchable now. With bids still to be opened in what has been a long and bitter competition against the Sikorsky S-70B, it remains to be seen if the government will proceed with opening bids and hand the deal to Sikorsky — or simply pull the plug and call for fresh bids and new competitors. The other programme is the newly floated Naval Utility Helicopter (NUH) bid for 56 light copters. AgustaWestland has put forth the AW109 LUH as a contender against the Sikorsky S-76B, Bell 429 and Eurocopter AS 565 MB Panther. It might as well withdraw. No chance. Finally, the big IAF HS-748 Avro replacement programme, that’s seen Finmeccanica subsidiary Alenia Aermachhi mount a high-profile campaign on the C-27J Spartan. Not happening. There are others too that could potentially be singed by a blacklist — Finmeccanica has equity fingers in tens of companies. Cynical? Overreacting? You don’t know how Indian politics works.
I just can't understand that if we have a bag full of money and experts who are capable of designing helos like dhruv,rudra etc.and also have the assess to technologies from abroad.Then how come we are not able to improvise our skills and make an excellent machine like russians are doing with india in jv FGFA project.I think all of this is a lack of political will and about being venal.
More like your ignorance than anything else. All the "indigenous" products you mentioned are in fact, heavily imported equipment assembled here. India has no real high technology prowess: a fact. Relying on govt. owned organizations to develop products will NOT work: a fact.
Shiv, why such a knee jerk reaction from all media guys..why cant just wait and see what happens..Let the investigation result come out and also NH90 s major shareholder is eurocopter not agusta westland and it is not a subsidy of Finmeccenica..Media houses are behaving like judges and investigative agency..Dont think u will post this comment here..but know the facts first before shouting
it is we Indians loose a lot ,because re-re-re-re re-tendering and cancellations ,blacklists… Finmeccanica survived all these years with out our support isn't it…it will continue to survive!!!We are loosing valuable time and money and have become a laughing stock in the int'l arms market. As former Italian PM said there are going to be such things in massive purchases ,that too in the defence sector. The amount of bureaucracy, redtapism, technical and logistics support to be provided by any company which is a few thousands of miles away ,it is not an economically viable task. They have to recover their investments in someway or other. MoD should think twice before canceling all defence deals,black listing of defence firms etc..It is we are the loosers. There are and have been many scams involving right from sand mafia,oil mafia,iron ore mafia,animal fodder scams,telgi scams,tehelka scams etc…. The real culprits have gone scottfree in most of the cases. God save India.
That is big connection Shiv, you might as well point fingers at the rivals to have unearthed the hellicoter bribe scandal.
Everything is fair in defence deal competitions. Consiracy theories galore to save face of UPA ?
You too brutus..
if MoD… can't find any quattrocchis… AW deinies everthing… italian prosecution… withelds everything… what will antony do… ???… turns out… an eyewash/BS… all this…
it seems that India is cutting of both arms to satisfy its feeling of moral superiority. I bet the Chinese are willing to supply howitzers and helicopters.
Why not just fine a company heavily, hang a few of your own politicians, and get on with the business of equipping your military. This is getting you nowhere fast.
To be sure, your recent best friend Boeing is no innocent either http://whistleblowersupporter.typepad.com/my_weblog/boeing-corruption-and-fraud/
, so it's probably a matter of time before they're blacklisted as well. Which leaves you with the Russians. Good luck……
How many companies India will blacklist for an Indian diseases of bribing? Does India have no bribing culture at all? Grow up it’s part of human trait and will never be able to get rid of…
Soon there would be no companies would be will to do any business with India.I think this is one of the biggest hurdles that the local Indian companies face with home grown weaopns acceptance by the armforces.
Lets wait, UK PM and RR CEO are coming to Delhi this week to address AW and NH 90 future course of action. It was not in the agenda but MEA has now confirmed it is on the agenda. AW will not get blacklisted but may be rewarded with another deal.
Over reacting Shiv … ABSOLUTELY
IF anything like a blacklist were to happen .. it would only be for Agusta Westland. Each of the other companies you mentioned are stand alone companies which only have a relation to one undr the Finmeccanica umbrella.
NH Industries will not be affected (Agusta is a junior partner with less that one third equity)
Alenia will not be affected
Oto Melara will not be affected.
Selex Gelileo – not affectd
Selex Sistemi – Not affected
etc etc
All these are stand alone companies.
Most importantly its is the STUPID Indian media that keep calling it the Finmeccanica controvery. It is not is is an Agusta Westland controversy. The only reason the CEO of Finmeccanica got arrested is because he was the CEO if Agusta when this deal was processed.
A little less hype is expected from you sir.
Not lack of political will Ani. It is a clear sign that Congress will never let India be a strong country.
They see that to maintain their hold on power, millions need to be hungry, unemployed, illiterate. Cannot have any other institution like Judiciary or armed forces as backups as well. So weaken everything and be the only strong pillar to hold the house up.
Same philosophy in Pakistan: Army is their only choice for stability. And who got them in this situation: the army itself.
We should blame corrupted persons inside our country not Finmeccanica. I think in India without kickbacks none of the contracts can be signed, except the contracts from USA. May be this arms dealers are forcing every company to give them
kickbacks. Why the hell armsdealers are even needed in a country to country relationship. First we need to get rid of them.
they should blacklist this firm atleast for 10 years so to send a strong signal not to indulge in corrupt activities
How many companies India will blacklist for an Indian diseases of bribing? Does India have no bribing culture at all? Grow up it’s part of human trait and will never be able to get rid of…
Has any Russian companies been blacklisted, surely there must have been kickback from billions of dollars of arms India have purchased in the past?
A sobering reality check for all those salivating at the thought of acquiring European and American weapon systems. In all the tenders listed here, Agusta-Westland didn't have any decisive advantage to offer (except the bribery offers perhaps). The C-27J spartan deal is another useless deal,that makes little sense, so good riddance. However, if we continue on the blacklist spree, we may soon have to develops all our weapons ourselves! OMG!
somebody should check rafale deal now instead of probing after 2 years or 10 ….
1) finmeccanica got very competitive products and it is ready to share technologies.
2) in a week there will be general elections in Italy with one party very damaged by the scam.
Then you can easy understand the reason of such big scam advertising!
All the helicopters whose substitutes can be produced by HAL in time need not to be imported.
Let's get to root of problem..The defence procurement methodology is time consuming. The time between submission of quote and actual signing of deal is never less than 3-4 years..During the Flt trials, trial schedules can be manipulated.
Punish the guilty, recover the money if really given, but let the deal go ahead
The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to protect from without. Indian Defense Industry