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ROTARY & FIXED WING AIRCRAFT

For images of the aircraft listed below, please visit the Army Gallery

Comments: SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) indicated in its 2005 publication that as many as 52 Searcher UAVs (variants not known) and 42 Heron-II UAVs were ordered by the Indian Armed Forces since 1996. SIPRI indicates that deliveries commenced in 1998 and are still continuing to this day. It was reported that a deal worth US $220 million was signed by the Indian Army in January 2006, for the Heron UAV. The first batch will consist of 16 UAVs - eight each for the 14 Corps (HQ Leh) and 15 Corps (HQ Srinagar). Follow-on batches will be deployed in the western sector, where they will operate from airbases of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

As per a news article in IndiaPRWire, dated 08 April 2007, Eurocopter - a division of EADS (European Aeronautic, Defense and Space) - was awarded a USD $550 million deal by the Indian Army for 197 light helicopters of the AS 550C3 Fennec model. These helicopters will replace the ageing 1970s-vintage HAL Cheetah and HAL Chetak helicopters in the next decade. Eurocopter will supply 60 helicopters in a fly-away condition, made at its plants in France and Germany, while the remaining 137 will be manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at it's Bangalore facility. It is expected to take three years to supply the European batch and in that time, the assembly lines will be set up simultaneously at HAL to facilitate their manufacture in India under a Transfer of Technology (ToT) program. Discussions between Eurocopter and the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) is slated to begin soon, to modify the deal to include the weapons and electronic warfare package, which the USD $550 million does not currently contain. A formal contract will only be signed at that point in time.

As per a news article in domain-B, dated 19 May 2007, the Indian Army will use these choppers for surveillance, medium transport and CASEVAC (Casualty Evacuation). These roles are currently performed by the HAL Cheetah and HAL Chetak helicopters. As per Eurocopter, the Fennec presently represents the best transport & radius of action trade-off of any helicopter in its class. Within an hour, it can transport 25 commandos out to 20 km. The cabin can accommodate 1 pilot + 5 troops and thus transporting 25 commandos will require five separate sorties. In an attack configuration, the helicopter can carry a 20mm cannon along with rocket launchers (fitted on either side of the helicopter's cabin). As per Eurocopter, the Fennec can perform 2 hours and 45 minutes of tactical flight missions with 20 minutes of fuel reserve. In an anti-tank configuration, the helicopter can be equipped with four anti-tank missiles and can perform tactical flight missions lasting 2 hours and 30 minutes and still have a fuel reserve of 20 minutes.

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