HAL bags ₹8,000-cr order for Dhruv copters

The government has cleared a proposal worth around ₹8,000 crore to acquire 32 Dhruv advanced light helicopters (ALH) to boost the maritime capabilities of the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard.

A draft proposal tabled by former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to buy the indigenously developed ALH from the government-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security. Both the Navy and the Coast Guard would get 16 choppers each.

Currently, the Indian Navy has deployed its fleet of Dhruv helicopters at its base INS Garuda in Kochi.

The deal is set to open a new chapter for HAL in defence equipment maintenance, since HAL is to not just provide the helicopters, but also develop the infrastructure for their operation. With this order, HAL is set to enter the sphere of Performance Based Logistics (PBL) for helicopters.

HAL has noted that a unique feature of the contract is the PBL support for five years for 16 helicopters for the Indian Coast Guard.

“The PBL is the purchase of logistics support as an integrated, affordable, performance package designed to optimise system readiness and meet performance goals for the product through long-term support arrangements with clear lines of authority and responsibility,” T Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL, said in a statement.

The company added that PBL is emerging as a preferred acquisition strategy for defence acquisition and asset management.

While PBL ensures availability of products to the customer, the responsibility gets transferred to the contractor. PBL also envisages rewards or penalties based on performance.

Incidentally, HAL and Israel Aircraft Industries have an agreement to market the Dhruv helicopter worldwide.

Despite the termination of an earlier contract with Ecuador for the supply of seven helicopters, the companies are in discussion to push further sales. In 2009, India had bagged a deal to supply seven helicopters to Ecuador worth $45.2 million. However, when four of them crashed, Ecuador terminated the contract in October 2015, and put the remaining three helicopters on sale last year.

Sources indicated that the companies are in talks with several Southeast Asian nations such as Myanmar and Indonesia, as well as Sri Lanka, for the export of the Dhruv helicopter.

In all future contracts, sources added, HAL plans to propose long-term onsite maintenance support for more than three years.

HAL is awaiting the EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) certification for the civil variant of Dhruv. Once Dhruv bags the EASA certification, a whole new market is expected to open up for HAL.

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