HAL-Safran Chopper joint venture to be in place within 3 months

India has expedited work on a new military helicopter, which includes the design and development of a new engine and heavy involvement of the private sector defence industry to meet a tight timeline. The programme was a key highlight of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to France and finds mention in the Roadmap on Indo-French Strategic Partnership Horizon 2047.

Officials told ET that a joint venture company with France's Safran to co-develop the engine will be set up within three months and the process to find partners in the Indian private sector has been initiated. The Indian Multi Role Helicopter (IMRH) programme is being led by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and will replace imports from Russia.

"It is a 12 tonne category helicopter, which has never been done in India before. The project timelines are very short and we need to come up with the helicopter within 6 to 7 years. Things now are moving very fast," HAL chairman and managing director CB Ananthakrishnan told ET.


Sharing details, the official said that the project has been divided into three categories where work will be done in parallel to meet the timelines. For airframe, avionics and accessories, HAL will find partners in the Indian private sector who will be part of the project from the design stage itself. For transmission and rotor system, the company is looking at co-development with major foreign aircraft manufacturers like Airbus and Sikorsky.

And for the development of a new engine, a joint venture is being formed with Safran. "We have entered into a shareholders agreement and the joint venture with Safran will be in place within the next three months. It will be a joint development and IPR (intellectual property rights) will remain within the country (India)," Ananthakrishnan said.

Discussions on expediting the programme have taken place with the defence ministry and a funding proposal is likely to be submitted soon. It is estimated that the biggest helicopter development programme being undertaken by India will cost close to '10,000 crore and will replace all Mi 17 category helicopters operated by the armed forces.

Two versions of the helicopter are being developed. One will be for air force and army requirements and the other for navy. The naval variant will have a different configuration with folding rotors and tail boom. Even the size of rotor blades will be different for the naval IMRH.