HAL cancels tender for co-developing medium-lift choppers

New Delhi, June 25 (PTI) India's plans to get an
indigenous medium-lift helicopter have received a setback as
its premier aerospace company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
has cancelled a tender to select a global partner for
co-developing the 10-12 tonne class choppers for the armed
forces.

HAL had released the tender for selecting a partner
for co-developing the chopper for both civilian and military
markets and French Company Eurocopter and Russian Mil were
shortlisted for the contract.

However, the tender was cancelled as the armed forces'
specifications for their requirements in the chopper were
changed during the tender process, Defence Ministry sources
told PTI.

The medium-lift helicopter development plan is being
undertaken by HAL to replace the older versions of the
Russian Mi-17s flying with the Indian Air Force and the Army.

Under the co-development programme, sources said, HAL
and the chosen partner were supposed to produce around 350 of
these helicopters over a period of 10-15 years and gradually
replace the Mi-8 and Mi-17s.

"HAL will now release the tender again after adding in
the additional specifications given by the armed forces and
the process is expected to begin in next two months but the
schedule has not yet been finalised," they said.

The to-be developed choppers will be mainly used by
the Army and the IAF to maintain the Indian troops in high
altitude regions, carrying out rescue and relief operations
and transportation of cargo and troops.

"It would have been good for the Navy also. This would
have been their first indigenously developed chopper as they
don't have the ALH Dhruvs on board their ships," the defence
sources said.

HAL was also looking to export the choppers as they
were being co-developed with a foreign partner. HAL is working
on co-developing Light Utility Helicopters (LUH) also in
collaboration with a foreign partner. The LUH will be a
3-tonne light helicopter for the Army and the IAF for
replacing their fleet of 'Cheetah' and 'Chetak'.

"We are in the preliminary stages in the project and
are working on the design of the LUH. This would be a 3-tonne
helicopter with a single engine," sources said.

The LUH project would be completed in next five to six
years and would help upgrade the helicopter fleet of the armed
forces. The army and the IAF want to replace around 300
'Cheetah' and 'Chetak' helicopters, which form the bulk of
their rotary wing fleet.

HAL would be producing 187 helicopters for the two
forces, Baweja said. The two forces had expressed a joint
demand of 384 helicopters earlier, of which 197 would be
procured directly from foreign vendors and the rest 187
developed and produced by HAL.PTI