December 11, 2012: Close on the heels of declaring Boeing Defense's Chinook for the Indian Air Force, the Defence Ministry has not formally announced another victory—that of the AH-64D Apache Block III in the parallel attack helicopter bid. The victory was first revealed by Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne in early October, but in Parliament, the government has for the first time made the news official. In response to a written query, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said, "Indian Air Force (IAF) is procuring Chinook Ch-47F heavy-lift helicopters and AH-64D Block-III Apache helicopters from Boeing Company of USA."

In the two separate proposals initiated by IAF for procurement of 15 heavy lift helicopters and 22 attack helicopters, Boeing of United States of America (USA) with Chinook CH-47F(I) and 'Apache' AH-64D respectively, has emerged as the L1 vendor. The Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) cost for 15 Heavy Lift Helicopters and 22 Attack Helicopters is 2468.41 Crores and 3,094.98 crore respectively. However, final cost of the contracts would depend upon outcome of the contract negotiation with the L1 vendor." Significantly, Antony also made clear the government's stand on the current tussle between the IAF and Army over attack helicopter usage. He said, "Government has decided to let the Army to have its own heavy duty attack helicopter. The decision to vest the future inductions of attack helicopters with the Army has been taken keeping in view the operational requirements in the field."