The Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Friday signed a landmark contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) for the biggest-ever procurement of 156 light combat helicopters (LCHs) — Prachands — at a cost of ₹62,700 crore.
Following approval from the Cabinet Committee on Security, on Friday, the MoD inked two deals with HAL; one for the supply of 66 LCHs to the Indian Air Force (IAF) and another for 90 LCHs to the Indian Army, along with associated equipment, according to the Ministry.
Together, the total cost of both contracts is ₹62,700 crore, excluding taxes. Notably, the deal for the Army alone is around ₹40,000 crore, sources in HAL said.
The Ministry also signed a contract with Metrea Management for ‘wet leasing’ of one flight refuelling aircraft (FRA) for providing mid-air refuelling training to pilots of IAF and Indian Navy. Metrea will provide FRA (KC135 Aircraft) within six months, which will be the first FRA to be wet leased by IAF, the Ministry said.
With these three contracts, the total number of deals signed by the MoD during FY24-25 has reached 193, with the overall worth exceeding ₹2,09,050 crore. This is the highest-ever total defence contracts value in a year and nearly double the previous record.
Of these contracts, 177 are dedicated to the domestic industry, which is 92 per cent of the total signed deals, carrying a total value ₹1,68,922 crore.
HAL is set to manufacture the initial batch of the LCHs at its Bengaluru facility and then move production to its Tumakuru factory, also in Karnataka, to start the supply from the third year of signing the contract, top sources in the defence PSU said. The defence PSU will ramp up its facility to produce 30 helicopters per year. HAL sources stated with this deal, their order book would touch ₹2 lakh crore.
The supply of all helicopters conceived, following the need felt during the Kargil War of 1999, will be complete in the next five years.
LCH is India’s first indigenously designed and developed combat helicopter with capability to operate at an altitude of over 5,000 meters.
This helicopter has a large number of components designed and manufactured in India and it is planned to achieve an overall indigenous content of over 65 per cent during the execution of this procurement, the Ministry stated.
According to the MoD, this will involve over 250 domestic companies, mostly MSMEs, and will generate over 8,500 direct and indirect jobs.