10 Jun 16. India to Speed Up Brahmos Missile Sale to Vietnam.
India will speed up the sale of Russian-Indian BrahMos cruise missiles to Vietnam and consider their delivery to another four countries, in particular, Indonesia, South Africa, Chile and Brazil, a source in the Indian Defense Ministry told TASS.
“A decision to speed up the process of concluding a deal was made at a meeting between Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar and his Vietnamese counterpart General Ngo Xuan Lich at the beginning of the week,” the source said.
“India is ready to sell BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles with a range of 290 kilometers [180 miles] to Hanoi. If the deal is concluded, Vietnam will be the first country to receive these missiles manufactured by Russia and India jointly,” the source added.
According to the source, Vietnam wanted to purchase BrahMos missiles from India in 2011 but New Delhi refused to conclude a deal as it didn’t want to irritate China.
“Also, India views Indonesia, South Africa, Chile and Brazil as the nearest potential customers of the BrahMos cruise missile. These countries are interested in purchasing this cutting-edge cruise missile with a speed three times as much as the sound velocity,” the source added.
As spokesman for the Russian-Indian BrahMos Aerospace Company Praveen Pathak told TASS, “other countries, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates, have shown interest in the Russian-Indian BrahMos missile.”
“However, the delivery prospects require further discussions and analyses,” he added.
According to Pathak, Russia and India have determined a group of 14 countries, with which they can sign export contracts for the delivery of the Russian-Indian BrahMos cruise missile.
“The talk is about those countries, with which both Russia and India have good relations,” Pathak said.
According to some sources, a contract with Vietnam, which will be the first export contract on the BrahMos cruise missile, can be signed before the end of 2016. (Source: defence-aerospace.com/Tass Defense)
08 Jun 16. Israel Mulls Buying Italian Training Helicopters. The [Israeli] Ministry of Defense is considering the procurement of new training helicopters made by Italian company AgustaWestland for the Israel air force. The air force and Ministry of Defense are seeking to replace the outmoded Bell Sayfan 206 helicopters currently used for helicopter cadets in flight training.
The air force received its first Sayfan helicopters in the early 1970s, and more advanced Bell 206 models were delivered during the 1980s. Since they were obtained by the air force, they have been used mainly for missions of patrolling, observation, light transport, rescue, evacuation of casualties, etc. In recent years, these helicopters have undergone a series of adaptations for use in training cadet pilots in the air force flight school at the Hatzerim base.
The Ministry of Defense has not yet decided which AgustaWestland model will meet the training needs of future air force helicopter pilots. In recent months, the Ministry of Defense Procurement and Production Directorate has been conducting a preliminary procedure of obtaining information about possible aircraft for this mission, in cooperation with professional air force personnel, including the establishment of budgetary frameworks for financing a future deal.
“It is still preliminary,” Ministry of Defense deputy director general and Production and Procurement Directorate head Brigadier-General (res.) Shmuel Zucker confirmed to “Globes.” “We are adding information and considering it from all angles. Later, the air force will decide what it wants and what is right for it, according to its professional standards. In any case, for years the air force has been discussing its need and wish to update its training helicopters.”
While the air force wants to renew its fleet of training helicopters in order to save on the high maintenance costs for its