The Indian Army on Thursday got a step closer to having its own dedicated fleet of attack helicopters, with the Defence Ministry approving the purchase of six AH-64 Apache attack helicopters from the U.S.
“The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, cleared total capital acquisitions worth about ₹4,700 crore. It also took stock of various proposals in the pipeline and insisted on expeditious clearance of proposals in final stages,” a Ministry source said.
Another deal
In another deal, the DAC gave approval for procuring two gas turbine engines from Ukraine, to be fitted on the two stealth frigates under construction in Russia. They will cost over ₹490 crore.
The cost of Apaches, including associated equipment, spares, training, weapons and armaments, is about ₹4,168 crore.
Optional clause
For this, India will exercise the optional clause in the original deal signed with the U.S. in November 2015. Under a $3 bn deal, India has contracted 22 Apache attack helicopters and 15 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters through the Foreign Military Sales programme. The optional clause has a provision for 11 helicopters and the Army was hoping to get all of them, but the Government has limited it to six, at least for now.
