IAF to acquire 230 choppers

BANGALORE: Air Chief Marshal P V Naik told reporters at Aero India 2011, that the force is in the process of acquiring helicopters of different types and sizes in the next couple of years. “We are acquiring 12 AW 101 VVIP helicopters, trials for 22 attack choppers are completed, 80 MI-17 IV helicopters are being inducted and 50 odd would be added, trials for 12 heavy-lift choppers are also in the final stage and will be completed soon,” he said.

Naik said the field evaluation trials (FETs) for procuring 197 helicopters for the Army and Navy were also over and the report was expected to be submitted in the next couple of weeks. Of the 197, IAF would receive over 55 helicopters. For the attack helicopters, Russian MI-28 and American Apache 64 D Longbow are facing each other. The IAF chief said the trials were over and a report was expected in the next two weeks.

Under the LUH programme, the Army has conducted trials of the Russian KA-226 and Eurocopter Fennec, and would send its report to the IAF soon. Commenting on reports suggesting that the US would offer high-end technology to India, the IAF chief said these reports should be taken “with a pinch of salt” as it was not known to whom such offers were made by the Americans. On the upgrades to be carried out on the Su-30 MKI, Naik said the aircraft would have state-of-the-art equipment and HAL, DRDO and Russian manufacturers were involved in the development of the Aesa radar also for the air superiority fighter.