New Bird In The Sky: Indian Air Force Receives Four Chinook Helicopters From Boeing; To Be Inducted By 2019 End

Indian Air Force (IAF) has been delivered four Chinook helicopters by aerospace major Boeing, Press Trust Of India has reported.

Boeing confirmed that the helicopters were received at the Mundra port in Gujarat following which they would be sent to Chandigarh. They would be formally inducted in the IAF by the end of this year.

These helicopters would be critical in transporting troops, artillery, equipment and can also be instrumental in disaster relief missions.

As per a statement by Boeing, these helicopters would provide Indian Armed Forces with unmatched strategic airlift capability during combat and humanitarian missions.

A total of 15 Chinook helicopters and 22 Apache helicopters were ordered by the IAF in September 2015. The deal is said to be worth around $3 billion.

This mega defence deal also has a Make-In-India touch to it as Boeing has included 160 Indian firms in its supply chain including a joint venture for manufacturing Apache’s fuselage.

Though the helicopters will be delivered to India in a fly-away condition, some parts of these heavy-weight machines will be built by companies based out of India.

A Bengaluru-based company, Dynamatics Technologies Limited, is one of the partner companies that will build certain components of the helicopters, along with the cargo ramp, in India.