The contract for the 156 “Prachand” light helicopter will be the largest single order to acquire military equipment from an Indian company. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) will produce helicopters and outsource a large amount of work to the private sector. The first chopper is expected to be delivered within three years. Officials say the goal is to ultimately outsource nearly 40% of the work to the private sector.
Sources said the security committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-Modi signed a contract on Friday.
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Army and Air Force Orders
Sources said the deal will be officially signed in the current fiscal year. The order is being distributed among the Army, which will receive 90 choppers and the Air Force (66). Initially, kitchen knives will be made in Bangalore, and future production will be expanded to Tumkur. With this, HAL’s order book will exceed Rs 2 million, which includes other helicopters and fighters. The column helicopter was designed specifically for Indian conditions and showed good performance at ultra-high sea levels during the trials in Ladakh. HAL has delivered 15 helicopters to the armed forces and users have performed, especially in high altitude areas. Pracand will be the main combat chopper in India over the next three to forty years. It also has good potential for export orders. It will be supplemented by Apache helicopters in services purchased from the United States.
Pracand aims to play combat search and rescue, enemy air defense, destruction of rebellion operations, preventing mobile speed aircraft, long-range flight aircraft, high-altitude bunker sabotage operations, rebellion operations in jungle and urban environments, and support for ground forces.
“The helicopter has modern stealth features, strong armor protection and powerful night attack capabilities. On board the advanced navigation system, tailor-made guns for close combat and effective air-to-air missiles make the LCH particularly suitable for modern battlefields,” said an official.
In 2022, the government and HAL issued an order for 15 light combat helicopters, with a cost of 38,87 crore. These choppers were introduced in October 2022 at Jodhpur, the newly raised 143 helicopter unit.
