New Delhi, June 18
Famous American gunship — Black Hawk — is ready for sale to India. However, it is not yet clear whether this legendary flying machine is being offered with stealth technology.

Highly placed Defence Ministry sources told The Tribune that a special team of the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, which manufactures Black Hawk, will give a detailed presentation on this helicopter in the Defence Ministry on June 20.

This will be Black Hawk’s first presentation to India. It is not linked to any defence deal under consideration. “We just want to evaluate this machine as part of futuristic war scenario. We will take a call on the stealth technology after the presentation,” sources said.

Asked whether India would go for the stealth technology, the sources said, “Of course, but let us first see what actually is being offered during the presentation.”

The Americans are offering latest UH-60M Black Hawk. Despite strong military ties with Pakistan, the US has not sold Black Hawks to Islamabad.

After doing much in-house brain storming, the US Administration has permitted private sector Sikorsky to offer Black Hawk to India. Black Hawk is the world’s most expensive helicopter — primarily because of its highly classified state-of-art avionics, radars, weapons and fighting capability.

The Americans some time ago offered Black Hawk’s naval version Seahawk to New Delhi. Seahawk is in the race for the Navy’s over $1 billion deal for 16 multi-role helicopters. The naval deal is at the final stage. Tenders are likely to be opened in near future. Seahawk’s rival is NH90 chopper produced by the NATO Helicopter Industries (NHI), a European consortium of firms from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Finland and Australia.

For the June 20 Black Hawk presentation, besides top officials of the Defence Ministry associated with the procurement of weapons and equipment, senior officers of the Indian Air Force and the Army are also likely to be present.

The Defence Ministry sources said that Black Hawk has generated interest in the IAF as well as the Army, which are ready to look at it for desert as well as high-altitude operations for theatres like Siachen glacier.

Sikorsky helicopters are used by all five branches of the US armed forces, along with military services and commercial operators in many other countries. Black Hawk has become a legendary helicopter in America’s war history. It is playing an active role in Afghanistan and Pakistan in counter-terrorism operations.