Agusta fiasco: India to hunt for new VVIP copters
Times of India Jan 7, 2014
India will have to hunt for new plush and secure helicopters for the President, PM and other top dignitaries because the three AgustaWestland AW-101 helicopters already inducted with "limited spares" cannot constitute a viable squadron to ferry VVIPs around.
The government last week scrapped the 556.26- million Euro deal for the 12 AW-101 helicopters, only three of which were delivered before execution of the contract was frozen in February 2013 due to allegations of massive kickbacks.
IAF so far was undertaking "minimal sorties" of the three AW-101 helicopters to maintain their "flying currency" — if a chopper remains on the ground for over a month, it has to go in for mandatory checks and servicing — but a big question mark now hangs over the fate of the three machines.