Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has cast a shadow on maintainability of Mi-17 helicopters

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has cast a shadow on the Mi-17, IAF's mainstay medium lift helicopter fleet. Officials say its maintainability is likely to be impacted in the medium to long term, given the dependence on Ukrainian manufacturers for key engine parts.

Consequently, India has accelerated its plan to domestically develop a replacement for the Mi-17 fleet. The project will be executed by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in collaboration with a private partner.

Officials involved in the assessment told ET that the Mi-17 fleet had a variety of missions from supporting troops at forward locations to VVIP flights and dependence on Ukrainian manufacturers for its TV3 117 engine would hence create serious issues for the fleet.


India has enough stocks of spares and supplies in the short term, but the uncertainty over their continued availability from Ukraine following the war could impact operational availability of the choppers in coming months. The Mi-17 fleet is of Russian origin, but key components are manufactured in Ukraine.

Officials said that the Indian Medium Role Helicopter (IMRH) programme, meant to replace all Mi series choppers in service, was the way forward and has been moved under a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) model. As per plans, the IMRH programme will involve a private sector company that will work in partnership with HAL to design and manufacture a new helicopter custom made for Indian forces. HAL has already completed preliminary design work and the next step would be to develop a prototype. The programme is expected to take seven years to complete.

Defence insiders said that the SPV model would involve a private company to be selected after due process. The programme is likely to be a big-stake game, given upfront costs involved in design and development. By initial calculations, the cost is pegged at ₹11,000 crore in the next seven years. Setting up of production facilities and other infrastructure, once orders are placed, is likely to cost another ₹12,000 crore. It is not clear whether the government would absorb the research and development cost, or the private sector entity would pitch in from the initial stage. The projected requirement of the armed forces for a helicopter of this type is pegged at over 550 units and they would replace the large fleet of Mi-8/17 Russian origin helicopters that are imported.