New Delhi: Political will and regulations are urgently required to launch helicopter operations to maintain law and order and emergency medical services in India as the demand to deal with these situations was rising, a senior chopper firm executive has said.
"A strong political will is needed to consider heli-operations in India. The first aspect is to finalise the principles and then make regulations and guidelines. All this is required to be undertaken urgently," Eurocopter's Director (Market Development) Michael Rudolph said here.
To questions on funding for acquisition of helicopters for law and order or medical services (HEMS), he said while the state would have to invest on equipping the law and order machinery better, HEMS operations could be funded by non-profit organisations, charities or such foundations.
Asked about problems relating to government funding, he said, "In the European Union, a mere 0.4 per cent of the annual health budget is spent on helicopter ambulance services. So it is not a very big deal".
In this context, he referred to Eurocopter operations in several countries including the US, the UK, Brazil, France and Germany and said, "Our helicopters provide services ranging from traditional air support to multi-role intelligence and police air operations."
He said a major role of these choppers, functioning with the police and security agencies, was on prevention, intelligence gathering, detection, reduction of risks and intervention.
These operations were carried out by airborne observation and surveillance, C3 (command, control and communication), troop deployment and commando intervention when required.
Besides, helicopters were also being used for a variety of activities ranging from traffic control, firefighting, disaster search and rescue to patrolling of harbours, borders and coastal surveillance, prevention or control of oil spills, pipeline monitoring, Rudolph said.
In India, he said Eurocopter choppers were flying with various private and state-run companies. They have also started operating with oil firms and paramilitary forces now.
"Eurocopter helicopters are designed to respond to these emerging challenges and we have a wide-range of products which are the best to accomplish highly complex missions. Our solutions pave the way for launching airborne law enforcement operations in India," he said.
Rudolph said the equipment on board of helicopters with the US police include items like thermal imagers, searchlights, moving map systems, night vision goggle and platforms for tactical team transport and deployment.
In some cases, they also have a six gigahertz video downlink system that allows the helicopter to broadcast images to a central receive site, as well as portable handheld units.
"With a modern product line, Eurocopter has responded to the increasing security requirements around the world by adapting helicopter family very specifically to meet the demands of homeland security and rescue operations," he said, adding, this was the reason why Eurocopter had cornered over half the share of public services market like police, border patrol and coast guard.
"Thus with its expertise and product portfolio, Eurocopter can offer solutions that will pave the way for launching helicopters in airborne law enforcement role in India," Rudolph said.
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