NEW DELHI — The Indian navy has delayed by another six months a tender to buy 16 multi-role helicopters, even as it plans to issue another request for proposals to procure more than 75 similar aircraft, a senior defense ministry official says. The defense ministry official didn’t give any reasons for delaying the tender, which was initially released in September 2008. NH Industries (NHI) with its NH-90 and Sikorsky with its S-70 have bid for the program, which could expand by an additional 44 units and reach $1 billion.

NEW DELHI — With NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory having just touched down at Gale Crater on Mars, the Indian government now has given the final green light for its first orbiter mission to the red planet in November 2013. In December 2011, India’s Space Commission gave its approval for the project, which is estimated to cost around 4.5 billion rupees ($80.7 million). The government has allocated 1.25 billion rupees for the initial phase of the mission for India’s current fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2013.

NEW DELHI — Boeing is preparing to test fly the first of the 10 C-17 heavy-lift aircraft it is building for the Indian air force (IAF) by January 2013. The major join ceremony — which integrates the forward, center and aft fuselages and the wing assembly — was held on July 31 at Boeing’s factory in Long Beach, Calif.