Decks cleared for Indian Navy to acquire 111 light utility and 24 multi-role helicopters

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the highest decision making body on procurement in the Ministry of Defence, on Saturday cleared major acquisition proposals, including procurement of the urgently-needed 111 utility helicopters for the Indian Navy at a cost of Rs 21,000 crore.

DAC also approved separate procurement proposals worth Rs 25,000 crore for induction of multi-role helicopters and surface to air missiles for the navy and artillery guns for the army.

The naval utility helicopters will be the first procurement made under the strategic partnership (SP) model which stipulates inviting private firms to build military platforms in India in collaboration with foreign manufacturers.

The helicopters will be used for various missions, including search and rescue, attack and surveillance.

DAC also approved procurement of 24 naval multi-role helicopters (NMRH), which will be mainly used for hunting submarines. These helicopters will form an integral part of warships like aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates and corvettes and replace, in some cases supplement, the venerable Sea King helicopters, which have been in service of the Indian Navy for over 40 years and need urgent replacement.

DAC also gave the go-ahead for the induction of 150 indigenously-developed 155mm advanced towed artillery gun systems (ATAGS) in the army at a cost of over Rs 3,364 crore. The guns have been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and they will be manufactured by private firms selected by DRDO which will also transfer the technology needed to manufacture the gun to the selected firms.

Procurement of 14 vertically launched short-range surface to air missile systems has also been approved and 10 of these systems will be built in the country.

These systems protect navy ships against aerial threats including sea skimming anti-ship missiles.

In August last year, the navy issued a global request for information (RFI) for acquiring 111 utility and 123 multi-role helicopters. The navy has been pressing the government for years to acquire new helicopters to replace the ageing Chetak utility and Sea King multi-role helicopters but the procurement process had been hanging fire for many years.