NEW DELHI\u00a0\u2014\u00a0India and Russia have drawn the road map\u00a0for the joint production of Kamov Ka-226T light utility helicopters in the South Asian country, kick-starting\u00a0the $1 billion program.
Under the $1 billion deal for 200 Kamov Ka-226Ts, India\u00a0will buy 60 helicopters in fly-away condition from Russia while another 40 will be assembled in India and the remaining 100 fully built in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The manufacturing will take place at a new complex in Tumkur near HAL’s Bangalore helicopter complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Apart from production, the plan also includes setting up repair and maintenance facilities to provide faster support to the armed forces,” the HAL executive said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the overall composition of the Ka-226T helicopter in regard to components and systems remains a concern, according to\u00a0Baldev Singh Pawar, a\u00a0retired Indian Army\u00a0lieutenant general and former director general of Army aviation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pawar said the engine and some “key systems and avionics have been sourced by the Russian company from the global market,” adding that Russia continues to be under U.S. sanctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Indian MoD official insisted “all the obstacles will be cleared,” but did not provide details<\/p>\n\n\n\n
India needs a light utility helicopter to replace its aging Cheetah and Chetak helicopters produced under license from France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The Cheetah and Chetak continue to be reliable and heavily used helicopters despite their age. The imperative to procure a replacement has as much to do with the growing requirement for light helicopters as creeping obsolescence of the existing light helicopter fleet,” offered\u00a0Vijainder K Thakur, a defense analyst and retired Indian Air Force squadron\u00a0leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the Ka-226T program is making progress, the MoD has not quashed its requests for information that it floated separately in 2014 for the joint development of light utility helicopters for the Indian Navy and Air Force; and in this India may keep its options open for the procurement of light utility helos from other sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Kamov 226T is certainly not the best helicopter for India’s light utility helicopters requirement,” said Pawar, indicating that the possibility of acquiring light utility helicopters from other sources through the Buy and Make category under the Make in India initiative remains open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The joint production of the helicopters in India now awaits formal approval by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which will lead to the new production entity Indo-Russian Helicopters Private Limited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[7,45,11],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3390],"class_list":["post-33790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air","category-asia-pacific","category-global"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"KEMBDCLVLBAKLDOYM6GTA7SZTI","arc_canonical_url":"\/air\/2017\/03\/30\/india-russia-make-progress-toward-ka-226t-helicopter-production\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n