Govt floats RFI for 200 light helicopters to replace ageing Cheetah, Chetak fleet

New Delhi: With the armed forces still flying the vintage Cheetah and Chetak helicopters, the Defence Ministry on Friday issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking to buy 200 light helicopters to replace the archaic rotor-wing aircraft.

The plan is to buy 120 of these reconnaissance and surveillance helicopters for the aviation corps of the Indian Army while the remaining 80 will be for the Indian Air Force.

This RFI, sources said, was issued to finalise the choppers’ quality specifications, decide procurement category and identify probable vendors including an Indian company that will form a joint venture with the original equipment manufacturer. A meeting with the vendors is planned by the month.

The Cheetah/Chetak fleet that serves the forces from icy heights of Siachen glacier to Thar deserts are on the last leg of their six decades long journey in Indian armed forces. The plan is to start phasing out by 2027.

Based on the Aérospatiale Alouette III, the single engine Chetak helicopter was first inducted in 1962 and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited began manufacturing them under license in 1965. The single engine Cheetah is derived from the Aérospatiale SA 315B Lama and entered service in 1976.

A demand to retire the ageing choppers has gained traction in recent years in the wake of a string of accidents including several fatal ones.

Out of 246 Cheetah/Chetak helicopters, the Indian Army Aviation Corps currently operates around 190 choppers, out of which nearly 30 are in maintenance. While the Army and the IAF together have a requirement of over 450 light helicopters, the Army will need around 250 of them.

The army is also looking at buying 80 indigenous Light Utility Helicopters from the HAL, but the delivery is delayed because of some technical issues with the aircraft’s autopilot system. The LUH completed the high-altitude trials in 2020 and received the Initial Operational Clearance in 2021.