Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said, replacement of aircraft fleet of the defence forces including Cheetah and Chetak helicopters is reviewed from time to time keeping in view the operational requirements. He said, this is a continuous process. Mr Bhatt said, the Government has planned replacement of these helicopters with Naval Utility Helicopter, indigenous Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) manufactured by HAL under Buy (Indian-IDDM) project.<br />'' <br />'' Buy (Indian-IDDM) category refers to the procurement of products from an Indian vendor that have been indigenously designed, developed and manufactured with a minimum of 50 percent Indigenous Content.<br />'' <br />'' In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, the minister said, Initial Operational Clearance to LUH has been granted. He said, Four Limited Series Production &nbsp;LUHs two for Indian Army and two for Indian Air Force would be manufactured by 2022-23, and eight Limited Series Production LUHs four for Indian Army and four for Indian Air Force by 2023-24. Mr. Bhatt informed this would be followed by manufacture of Series Production (SP) Helicopters by HAL.<br />'' &nbsp;
News On AIR | November 29, 2021 5:32 PM
MoS Ajay Bhatt on replacement of helicopter, says the Govt has planned to replace helicopters with indigenous Light Utility Helicopter (LUH)