A Glaring Gap

Lt Gen. B.S. Pawar (retd)

The operational voids in the Indian military helicopter inventory continue to grow bigger by the day with no end in sight. Last year the armed forces had raised the alarm to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the fast-emerging critical operational voids in the availability of the Cheetah and Chetak fleet of observation and surveillance helicopters.

The current fleet of these helicopters will be reaching the end of their ‘total technical life’ by the end of 2022 and hence the urgent need to fast-track their replacement. The Cheetah and Chetak were inducted into the armed forces in the 1960-70 and are ageing, vintage and accident-prone. Their original models, the Aloutte-II and III are now being displayed in museums in France.

The latest report is that the government-to-government protracted deal to acquire 200 Russian Kamov Ka-226T Light Utility Helicopters (LUH) to replace the fleet of Cheetah and Chetak for the army and air force, is unlikely to materialise. This has further added to the gravity of the situation. Simultaneously, the navy’s programme to build 111 Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH) to replace its existing obsolete Chetak fleet under the Strategic Partnership route continues to stagnate, with no perceptible forward movement even after a decade of deliberations and discussions. There is still no clarity on this project’s future, excepting that the public sector entity, the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is also likely to be allowed to bid for the project along with the private sector players who were actually the main contenders under Strategic Partnership Model. The private industry has squarely put the blame on HAL for playing a spoiler in the finalisation of this project, Aatmanirbharta notwithstanding.

It is no secret that today 80 per cent of navy’s ships/ frigates are operating without the essential component of a helicopter on board, an alarming situation to say the least. As a result, the armed forces continue to fly these obsolete machines, which keep falling out of the skies on a regular basis exacting a heavy toll in terms of men and material and have rightly earned the now famous tag of flying coffins. In fact, the sustainability and maintainability of this ageing fleet itself is becoming well-nigh impossible which raises serious doubts and concerns on the safety and reliability of the machine itself. There is no doubt that the MoD and to some extent the armed forces are squarely to blame for this present situation.

Some Positive Developments

In this gloomy and grim situation with regard to the state of LUH which forms the bulk of armed forces inventory, there are some positive developments related to the heavier class of helicopters. The induction of 22 AH-64E state-of-the-art Apache attack helicopters and 15 CH-47F Chinook multi-mission heavy lift helicopters into the IAF in the last three years has certainly given a boost to the attack and heavy lift capability of the military.

The signing of a government-to-government deal for 24 Lockheed Martin-Sikorsky state-of-the-art, MH-60R Sea Hawk multi-role helicopters from the US in 2018 will address, to some extent, the immediate concerns of the navy. Two of these helicopters have already been inducted and the balance are expected to be inducted over the next two to three years. These will replace the obsolete fleet of Sea King helicopters. All the above three categories of helicopters are state-of-the-art, modern and battle-hardened machines, and will no doubt enhance the operational capabilities of the Indian military to a large extent.

However, these numbers are miniscule