Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) 'Prachand'.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: In a mega deal, the Defence Ministry on Friday signed contracts worth Rs 62,700 crore with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to buy 156 Prachand Light Combat Helicopters after obtaining necessary approval from the Cabinet Committee on Security.
The first contract was for supply of 66 LCHs to the Indian Air Force while the second one was for 90 helicopters to the Indian Army, officials said, adding that the supply would commence from the third year and would be spread over the next five years.
The Defence Ministry also signed a contract with Metrea Management for wet Leasing of one Flight Refueling Aircraft (FRA) for providing air-to-air refueling training to the pilots of the IAF and Indian Navy.
The company will provide a KC135 aircraft as a tanker within six months. This is the first FRA to be wet leased by the IAF.
LCH is India’s first indigenously designed and developed combat helicopter that can operate at an altitude of over 5,000 meters. This was taken up for development post Kargil conflict during which the armed forces felt the need to have a high-altitude gunship.
The helicopter possesses modern stealth characteristics, robust armour protection and formidable night attack capability besides having onboard advanced navigation system, guns tailored for close combat and potent air to air missiles.
While it has a large number of components designed and manufactured in India, the HAL plans to achieve an overall indigenous content of over 65 per cent.
The LCH deal was approved by the Defence Acquisition Council in November 2023, after which negotiations for the final contract took place. The final contract’s worth is nearly Rs 8000 crore more than what was cleared by the DAC.
With the signing of these three contracts, the total number of deals inked by Defence Ministry in 2024-25 reaches to 193 with overall contract value exceeding Rs 2.09 lakh crore - the highest ever and nearly double the previous highest figure.
Out of these, the contracts to domestic industry are 177 (92 per cent) with contract value Rs 1.69 lakh crore (81 per cent).