Daily Current Affairs Article 28th December 2020: With the deal for Ka-226T utility helicopters with Russia not concluded five years after it was announced and its fleet of Cheetah and Chetak helicopters at the end of their service life, the Army is set to approach the Defence Ministry for a waiver to take the deal forward.
The Kamov Ka-226 is a small, twin-engine Russian utility helicopter.
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The Ka-226 features an interchangeable mission pod, rather than a conventional cabin, allowing the use of various accommodation or equipment configurations.
Deal with India:
In 2015, India and Russia had concluded an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for at least 200 Ka-226T twin-engine utility helicopters estimated to cost over $1 billion with 60 helicopters to be directly imported and remaining 140 manufactured locally.
They are to replace the ageing and obsolete Cheetah and Chetak fleet of the Army and the Air Force.
A joint venture India Russia Helicopters Ltd. (IRHL) has been set up between Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and Russian Helicopters (RH) which will assemble the helicopters in India.
The Ka-226T deal with Russia has been stuck over indigenisation. So the Army is approaching the Ministry of Defence [MoD] for a waiver to conclude the deal.
