Centre inks contracts worth Rs 62,700 crore with HAL for supply of 156 LCH

New Delhi, March 28 (IANS) The government on Friday signed two contracts worth Rs 62,700 crore with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the supply of 156 Light Combat Helicopters (LCH), Prachand.

The first contract is for supply of 66 LCHs to the Indian Air Force (IAF) and second is for supply of 90 LCHs to the Indian Army, according to the Ministry of Defence.

The supply of these Helicopters will commence from the third year and will be spread over the next five years.

LCH is India’s first indigenously designed and developed combat helicopter having a capability of operating at an altitude of over 5,000 metres.

This helicopter has a large number of components designed & manufactured in India and it is planned to achieve an overall indigenous content of over 65 per cent during the execution of this procurement.

This will involve over 250 domestic companies mostly MSMEs and will generate over 8,500 direct and indirect jobs.

Meanwhile, the ministry also signed a contract with Metrea Management for Wet Leasing of one Flight Refuelling Aircraft (FRA) for providing Air to Air refuelling training to pilots of IAF and Indian Navy.

Metrea will provide FRA (KC135 Aircraft) within six months which will be the first FRA to be wet leased by IAF.

With signing of these three contracts, the total number of contracts signed by Ministry of Defence during 2024-25 reaches to 193 with overall contract value exceeding Rs 2,09,050 crore, which is the highest ever and nearly double the previous highest figure.

Out of these, the contracts to domestic industry are 177 (92 per cent) with contract value Rs 1,68,922 Crore (81 per cent).

On Thursday, the Ministry of Defence signed a contract with public sector Armoured Vehicle Nigam Limited for the procurement of Nag Missile System (NAMIS) tracked version of the anti-tank weapon platform and another deal with Force Motors Ltd and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd for around 5,000 light vehicles for the armed forces at a total cost of around Rs 2,500 crore.

These contracts under the "Buy Indian-Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured" category form part of the government’s strategy to promote self-reliance in defence production.

—IANS

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