New Delhi, 14-February-2023, Tuesday

The Indian Army is planning to buy around 200 indigenously-made giant helicopters for monitoring remote and high-altitude areas. These will be light utility and combat helicopters. Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Army Chief General Manoj Pandey gave this information. General Pandey said that the Army is planning to procure around 95 large Light Combat Helicopters (LCH) and 110 Light Utility Helicopters (LUH) for its Fighter Air Wing.

Prachanda will replace Cheetah and Chetak of Sena

The army chief said that instead of the army's Cheetah and Chetak helicopters, a huge helicopter is being considered. One of the weapon systems to be integrated into the LCH Enchantment will be the Helina missile and it has also been successfully tested.

Huge very dangerous helicopter

The massive 5.8-tonne twin-engine helicopter manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is capable of destroying enemy tanks, bunkers, drones and other weapons at high altitudes. This helicopter also includes features to evade enemy radar systems. It also has strong armor protection and is capable of attacking in the dark of night. This helicopter is fully capable of operating in Siachen, the world's highest battlefield.

In the context of our Air Force, you all are aware of the order of 15 Light Combat Helicopter 'Prachanda' by the government some time ago. Going forward, the total number of these in our Armed Forces will be 160: Defense Minister @rajnathsingh pic.twitter.com/MlNRDIdoH1

— Defense Decode® (@DefenceDecode) February 14, 2023

The approval to buy Helina missile has already been received

The Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) has already approved the purchase of 40 Halina launchers and missiles. Also, the army chief said that the first batch of six Apache helicopters from the US is expected to be received early next year.