India-France agreements land HAL deal to build engines for IAF helicopters

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in association with Safran Helicopter Engines SAS, a French manufacturer of rotorcraft turbines, has jointly taken up the initiative to build helicopter engines for the Indian Armed Forces (IAF). This would be the second joint venture for India after the collaboration with GE Aerospace. 

HAL has disclosed in an exchange filing that the venture would last through various stages including design, development, certification, production, sale and support of the helicopter engines. The project would be initiated by working on the Indian Multi -Role- Helicopter for the Indian Air Force and the Deck-Based- Multi- Role Helicopter for the navy.

"To enable progress on the IMRH programme, a shareholders' agreement between Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, India and Safran Helicopter Engine, France has been concluded for engine development," the 25-year cooperation document between India and France in defense and nuclear energy said.

The Bengaluru based HAL had just concluded a deal with General Electric, A United States (U.S) based multinational conglomerate, last month to build fighter engine jets for India’s airforce and navy. General Electrics Aerospace’s F-414 could be jointly built as a result of this partnership. This is in line with HAL’s attempts to indigenously develop the mk-2 light combat aircraft and broaden the scope of their fifth-generation advanced medium combat aircraft—AMCA—programmes.