India has signed a $1-billion deal with Russia for joint production of a new generation of light military helicopters under the ‘Make in India’ initiative during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Moscow for the Indo-Russian annual summit.
The agreement laid down the roadmap for manufacturing over 200 Kamov Ka-226T choppers.
The inter-government deal for procurement of 40 locally-assembled flyaway and 160 locally-manufactured Kamov Ka-226T helicopters also has scope for the possibility of exports. Earlier in May, the Defence Acquisition Council approved the Ka-226T on a non-tender basis to meet the Reconnaissance and Surveillance Helicopter requirement of the Indian armed forces.
An agreement between Reliance Helicopters, Russian Helicopters and RosoboronExport, the official agency for defence exports of the Russian defence ministry, is already in place.
Reliance Helicopters will be the lead integrator for a licensed production arrangement with transfer of technology from Russia for the Ka-226T. A value addition of 30% will be provided for the first 40 helicopters for which an assembly plant will be set up, and 50% for the co-produced helicopters for which Reliance and its partners will set up a facility for component manufacturing and assembly of parts to include avionics, gearboxes, transmission and engine rotor blades.
Reliance Defence has taken possession of 86 acres to set up its assembly and components manufacturing facility at the Multi-modal International Cargo Hub at Nagpur Airport in Maharashtra. Reliance expects the first phase of its new facility to be ready by early 2017. It is located next to the recently-inaugurated Boeing-Air India MRO facility. Reliance is creating a 375-acre aerospace park at Nagpur Airport that will facilitate indigenous manufacturing of aerospace components by tier 1 and 2 companies under the government’s ‘Make in India’ programme.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had pushed for the Ka-226T at his meeting with Modi in December 2014 annual summit held in New Delhi. Having agreed to make these helicopters in India, Russia was offered an initial deal for manufacture of almost 200 of these helicopters, with the potential to increase the number by another 400.
