New Delhi: India on Friday inked a Rs 62,700 crore contract to acquire 156 indigenous ‘Prachand’ light combat helicopters (LCHs) for its armed forces from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), in the biggest-ever such deal that was signed soon after it got the final nod from the PM-led cabinet committee on security.
The CCS approved the procurement of 90 LCHs for the Army and 66 for the IAF, which are armed with 20mm turret guns, 70mm rocket systems and air-to-air missiles for offensive operations and precision-strikes in high-altitude areas like eastern Ladakh and Siachen Glacier.
The 156 LCHs, along with associated equipment and training for Rs 62,700 crore, excluding taxes, will add to the 15 such choppers (10 IAF and five Army) inducted under a Rs 3,887 crore contract in 2022. “Prachand is a powerful machine. This decision marks a major boost to India’s combat capabilities and self-reliance in defence,” defence minister Rajnath Singh said. The CCS, incidentally, also approved the new defence cooperation agreement with Sri Lanka, ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the island nation next week.
TOI was the first to report that the deals for the 156 LCHs and 307 indigenous advanced towed artillery systems with gun-towing vehicles (Rs 6,900 crore) would be cleared by the CCS and inked before this fiscal ends on March 31.
The deals for the direct acquisition of 26 Rafale-Marine fighters from France as well as the construction of three additional Scorpene submarines at the Mazagon Docks, collectively worth almost Rs 1 lakh crore (Euro 10.6 billion), however, have been deferred to the next fiscal now. As per the contracts, the 156 LCHs will be built at HAL helicopter factories in Bengaluru and Tumakuru. “The deliveries will begin in three years, with 30 LCHs to be manufactured per year,” an official told TOI.
