Adani Defence Expresses Interest in India's Naval Helicopter Program

Adani Defence & Aerospace has joined the race to fulfill the Indian Navy's Naval Utility Helicopter (NUH) requirements, a move that could reshape the country's defence industry landscape.

Adani Defence CEO, Ashish Rajvanshi, confirmed the company's interest in the long-delayed program, opening avenues for both rivalry and collaboration with other key players.

The Indian Ministry of Defence aims to procure approximately 111 Naval Utility Helicopters through a strategic partnership between an Indian company and a foreign Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM).

This partnership, guided by the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016, emphasizes technology transfer, domestic manufacturing, and the integration of advanced equipment.

The Indian Navy is also exploring ship-based versions of the indigenously developed Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and Light Utility Helicopters (LUH).

This parallel focus highlights a potential path for Adani Defence to collaborate with existing programs such as HAL's Dhruv helicopter.

While the NUH program's trajectory remains in question, Adani Defence's entry indicates changing dynamics within the industry.

The company's potential to win the contract or form strategic partnerships could have a significant impact on the timely fulfilment of the Indian Navy's critical helicopter requirements.

Conclusion​

Adani Defence's interest in the NUH program adds an intriguing new dimension to India's defence industry.

The outcome, whether through direct competition or cooperative ventures, has the potential to reshape the nation's naval aviation capabilities.

 

[Ajath]

Why on Earth does the Navy need 111 Naval Utility helicopters? We already have a bunch of Dhruv and Chetak helicopters fulfilling that role, and the IMRH / DBMRH can take over the role from them later on.

Indian Navy cannot wait for eternity to get their helicopters.

 

[Anant]

You are a curse to the society, you spread false narratives, peddle in lies. If Supreme Court or SEBI or any other agencies can't find anything, you badmouth them. No it's not the British but the invaders started coming since the 6th century and people like you helped them establish their roots, to tell the truth and to be fair the British liberated us from the Moghal invaders and their kins who were ruling almost entire India.

I humbly disagree. Among all foreign entities who ruled over India or parts of it over the centuries, the British were by far the worst.

The Mughals and the like invaded India, yes. However, they remained here in India, and while they engaged in a lot of shenanigans, they were invested in seeing India remain a strong economic and industrial nation.

The British, on the other hand, only saw India as a source of raw materials and riches. They never cared about Indians as long as we remained subservient, paid our taxes, and kept getting ourselves robbed. The British actively de-industrialised India, remember that.

 

[Anant]

There are many uses for helicopters. Not sure where you got the 103 number. IN right now has some 120 helicopters. And it has nearly 150 ships, almost all of which can carry helicopters. Some carry 1, some 2, some 6, some 12. And the numbers are only set to go up. Not to mention, many of these helicopters are used for shore based operations as well. I’m f you calculate helicopter per ship, I am sure many navies will be far far ahead of India right now. So 111, if anything, is too small a number.

The total standard shipborne helicopter capacity across all Indian Navy ships today is 103. That breakdown is as follows:

1. Carriers: 10 each across 2 carriers, so 20.
2. Amphibious assault ships: 6 on Jalashwa, and 1 each on the 4 LSTs, so 10 total.
3. Destroyers: 2 each on the Delhi-, Kolkata-, and Visakhapatnam-classes (so 18 so far), plus 1 each on the Rajputs, so 21 in total.
4. Frigates: 2 each on the Shivaliks and Brahmaputras, and 1 each on the Talwars, so 18 in total.
5. Corvettes: 1 each on the Kamorta-, Kora-, and Khukri-classes, so 10 in total.
6. OPVs: 1 each on the Saryu- and Sukanya-classes, so 10 total.
7. Survey ships: 1 each on both the 1980s Sandhayak-class and the modern Sandhayak-class, so 6 there.
8. Auxiliaries: 1 each on INS Tir, INS Aditya, INS Jyoti, and INS Dhruv, and 2 each on the Deepak-class, so 8 there.

Add those up, and you get 103.

Now, the Navy has about 120 helicopters, but a lot of them are used on shore stations. Moreover, a good number of those ~120 helicopters are fairly new. My only point is that with the Navy invested in the DBMRH program to replace most of the older utility helicopters (the oldest Dhruvs and the Cheetahs), why go for a foreign design now? It just seems like an ill-timed decision.

 

[Amit Ray]

I humbly disagree. Among all foreign entities who ruled over India or parts of it over the centuries, the British were by far the worst.

The Mughals and the like invaded India, yes. However, they remained here in India, and while they engaged in a lot of shenanigans, they were invested in seeing India remain a strong economic and industrial nation.

The British, on the other hand, only saw India as a source of raw materials and riches. They never cared about Indians as long as we remained subservient, paid our taxes, and kept getting ourselves robbed. The British actively de-industrialised India, remember that.

You keep your gyan to yourself. You have neither read history nor you are interested to know the facts. What the invaders did to us is beyond description, Mohd Ghori, Nadir Shah etc killed crores of people, converted people forcefully and those who refused perished. There is an untold saga which was under wraps for so long by the erstwhile govts ,but truth has a habit of coming out after ages . The luvkush mountains is a graveyard of one crore hindus, I don't want to go on and on, whether you acknowledge or not arguments won't change facts. And ofcourse the British swindled and robbed us but they hardly killed anybody except the freedom fighters and ofcourse in battle with different kings and queens. By the way whatever you see of India is done by the British, even the constitution was drafted with their help and was done in England itself.

 

[kumar]

No need of foreign oems. If Adani wants, then let them make ALH and LUH. Enough of this nonsense.

 

[Akshat]

Carriers: 10 each across 2 carriers, so 20.
Amphibious assault ships: 6 on Jalashwa, and 1 each on the 4 LSTs, so 10 total.
Destroyers: 2 each on the Delhi-, Kolkata-, and Visakhapatnam-classes (so 18 so far), plus 1 each on the Rajputs, so 21 in total.
Frigates: 2 each on the Shivaliks and Brahmaputras, and 1 each on the Talwars, so 18 in total.
Corvettes: 1 each on the Kamorta-, Kora-, and Khukri-classes, so 10 in total.
OPVs: 1 each on the Saryu- and Sukanya-classes, so 10 total.
Survey ships: 1 each on both the 1980s Sandhayak-class and the modern Sandhayak-class, so 6 there.
Auxiliaries: 1 each on INS Tir, INS Aditya, INS Jyoti, and INS Dhruv, and 2 each on the Deepak-class, so 8 there.

Significant errors in calculations. Our carriers can carry 12, or even more, choppers. Magar class has hangar for one chopper but deck and other facilities for 2 choppers.

Anyways, point is that this is not a new requirement and has been existing for a while. And not all the requirements can be fulfilled by the DBMRH. In fact, the original plan was actually a o keep HAL out of this tender and create an alternative helicopter manufacturer set up under strategic partner program. HAL had tried to make NUH for a long time and failed. But then HAL again b*tted in, and all private sector companies left because they know that when any DPSU is present, they can’t outbid them. HAL will quote rock bottom and win the tender and then increase the price later on like with Tejas. Right now Navy is actually working on NUH itself, made by HAL. Though I wish that wasn’t the case and someone else was given a chance.

 

[NSR]

Why on Earth does the Navy need 111 Naval Utility helicopters? We already have a bunch of Dhruv and Chetak helicopters fulfilling that role, and the IMRH / DBMRH can take over the role from them later on.

Chetak / Cheetah - 40+ years old helicopters
Dhruv - I surely wonder

DBMRH - If it happens it is after 2031.

When did Adani ever design and manufacture any helicopters?

Adani puts up shop and gets foreign maal and then stamps Drishti-10 and Drishti-5, etc and tries to sell to his buddies in GoI. Foreign maal only.

 

[Arz786]

NUH RFP under Strategic Partnership (SP) model was cancelled a couple of years ago because ALH Naval version appeared to be acceptable to Navy. HAL's problem of ALH blade folding and tail rotor folding in order to fit in the hanger / stowage place on ship was apparently resolved. So, foreign players namely Airbus Helicopter and Sikorsky, who were in talks with Indian business conglomerates such as Mahindra and Tata ended their India NUH project. What changed now ?

 

[desigandu]

No foreign maal...We should accelerate IMRH naval version...Also HAL should be divested of its helicopter division with a private sector player being the lead player...HAL has too many things going on and lacks the culture and the focus.

 

[Frank]

I humbly disagree. Among all foreign entities who ruled over India or parts of it over the centuries, the British were by far the worst.

ret ard is lam ic invasion was the w0rst..

we lost 40% of land because of that

we have 20 cancer in our country because of that

we dont have any brittish living in india right now

 

[Saptarshi Ray]

Why Adani is so much interested to develope the NUH? HAL has already developed the NUH.

No, HAL couldn't develop NUH, the project is in limbo! Why do you make ignorant and idiotic comments, can't you read the article properly or there's some understanding problem.

 

[Saptarshi Ray]

Now ALH and LUH is also gone...

Man we already have LUH just convert it to Nuh...

But no navy needs to make 56 Hijra and his friend screw driver king Adani happy...

Absolute banana republic

Another idiot in the line with his stupid comments.

 

[Sandeep]

The government are only going to select the naval ALH developed by HAL as they managed to build a few prototypes. The main problem only occurred when a few of the helicopters started crashing into the sea so until those issues are resolved no foreign orders will be made.

The interesting point to note is why was there a sudden crash of a few naval helicopters just recently manufactured in ideal conditions and after passing all of its test? India has got to start looking more closely at the people who design, manufacture and assemble these helicopters to make sure our national development or projects aren't deliberately being sabotaged just to keep Indian defence projects behind to improve and increase our security in the Indian Ocean. Any delay in defence projects only helps the enemy and damaging or showing that weapon or product as a failure is what stops or delay defence project.

India should not manufacture a foreign helicopter at all because it limits the technology and local production we get and it never teaches us how to make a new helicopter from it unless copying or reverse engineering it which is what China does with any Russian weapons it buys. India should use the naval ALH and fix whatever problems that occurred.

 

[Sunnyj]

Hal is good in helos, hope this is cancelled. MSME should be brought together and given a helping hand instead of big players.

 

[Rational Guy]

DPSU should design and private companies like Tata Mahindra Reliance Adani should handle production in future.

 

[Rational Guy]

Free airport licenses? He is paying more than anyone else in the world for those airports. Apart from 1 or 2 which he obtained via acquisitions, all the hose licenses came via open tenders where he outbid everyone else. Same for the Dharavi. And he has been investigated by CBI, SC, SEBI etc. No one has ever found one shred of evidence. I gen IS government audited him before funding for a foreign project and approved him. But yeah. He is corrupt because you say so.

There is definitely corruption and favoritism but that's in literally every single country in the world. If it results in development y not. He's building infrastructure airports etc anyways, that too of decent/good quality. But idealistic romanticist G@ndhian Indians always love to live in their delulu lands and don't accept the reality of the world.

 

[Anant]

Significant errors in calculations. Our carriers can carry 12, or even more, choppers. Magar class has hangar for one chopper but deck and other facilities for 2 choppers.

Anyways, point is that this is not a new requirement and has been existing for a while. And not all the requirements can be fulfilled by the DBMRH. In fact, the original plan was actually a o keep HAL out of this tender and create an alternative helicopter manufacturer set up under strategic partner program. HAL had tried to make NUH for a long time and failed. But then HAL again b*tted in, and all private sector companies left because they know that when any DPSU is present, they can’t outbid them. HAL will quote rock bottom and win the tender and then increase the price later on like with Tejas. Right now Navy is actually working on NUH itself, made by HAL. Though I wish that wasn’t the case and someone else was given a chance.

The standard loading for the carriers in peacetime is 10 helicopters plus 26 fighters. However, with increased deck parking, that capacity can be increased to 12-14 helicopters plus 30-33 fighters in wartime.

As for other ships, one generally tries not to keep a chopper on deck during the entirety of a deployment, especially if the deployment is a prolonged one. That is not to say a Magar- or Shardul-class will only ever carry 1 chopper, but they won't normally be carrying 2 around.

Regardless, what I am saying is that between the ALH, IMRH, and DBMRH, you can satisfy most requirements needed by a utility helicopter. A modified version of one of those designs may arguably be better suited than the NUH.

The problem is (atleast the way I see it) the fact that to some extent, our DPSUs are over-extending. They already have a lot of inefficiencies going on, and now they are taking up too many projects at the same time without the knowledge bank needed. It's only going to lead to more delays and problems.

 

[Akshat]

The standard loading for the carriers in peacetime is 10 helicopters plus 26 fighters. However, with increased deck parking, that capacity can be increased to 12-14 helicopters plus 30-33 fighters in wartime.

Will you procure as per peace time or as per war time?

The point is that there are requirements which none of the present options can fulfil. You can’t say that instead of buying new corvettes, let’s buy a few more frigates and destroyers. They are different and have different use cases.

 

[Anant]

You keep your gyan to yourself. You have neither read history nor you are interested to know the facts. What the invaders did to us is beyond description, Mohd Ghori, Nadir Shah etc killed crores of people, converted people forcefully and those who refused perished. There is an untold saga which was under wraps for so long by the erstwhile govts ,but truth has a habit of coming out after ages . The luvkush mountains is a graveyard of one crore hindus, I don't want to go on and on, whether you acknowledge or not arguments won't change facts. And ofcourse the British swindled and robbed us but they hardly killed anybody except the freedom fighters and ofcourse in battle with different kings and queens. By the way whatever you see of India is done by the British, even the constitution was drafted with their help and was done in England itself.

Did I say the Muslim invaders were nice? No, they committed atrocities on a scale seldom seen in history. However, the Brits went above and beyond that. The Muslim invaders were cruel beyond belief, and it is a dark period in our history when they attacked or ruled us. However, the British were worse.

If you cannot understand that and want to go with your binary belief of good and bad, then be my guest. The Islamic invaders were bad in a large number of ways, but the Brits were worse in even more ways.

 

[agent provocateur]

India can never become Atmanirbhar with DRDO, HAL types. Only private Industry can make us AtmaNirbhar.

Still lot of contacts are awarded to DPSUs. Without any competitive bid.

If Adani Group is foraying Into Aircraft systems welcome it.

To those who are crying about HAL. HAL makes AVRO HS748 under licence since1960. How many ATR42/72 have we imported in past 20 years?

What has HAL done to come up with their own version of HS748?

I want Adani group, Mahindra, Tatas, or any private industry to look intoHS 748 and pry that out of the hands of HAL and work on it creating an Indian Passenger Airliner out of it.