Article Posted on : - Jul 18, 2011

The BO105 helicopter of Royal Brunei Air Force. An MoD photo

BOLKIAH (BNS): Brunei has shortlisted two global helicopter manufacturers for its Support Helicopter Project (SH Poject) contract.

The Defence Ministry has selected Eurocopter and Sikorsky for the contract that entails replacing the Royal Brunei Air Force’s aging fleet of Bell 212 and BO105 helicopters.

While US helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky has offered its S-70i Black Hawk, Eurocopter has proposed a two platform solution – the large utility EC725 helicopter and the smaller light utility EC645T2 helicopter for the SH project.

The Ministry of Defence shortlisted the two firms out of four bidders who had expressed interest in the programme.

Contract negotiations with the two selected firms would begin after on-the-filed evaluation of the helicopters, the Defence Ministry said, adding that the contract was expected to be awarded by the end of this year.

It did not provide any details on the contract value or the number of new choppers to be procured.

The first batch of new helicopters is expected to be delivered and introduced into service by 2014, the ministry said.