BY : DEFENSE NEWS

The Indian Defence Ministry has approved a $450 million program to upgrade the avionics and sensors on 172 medium-lift helicopters and to purchase an additional 80 Russian Mi-17 copters.
Negotiations for the program were finalized during an Oct. 18 meeting in Russia of Indian Defence Minister A.K. Anthony with his counterpart, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov. Ashok Baweja, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) chairman, accompanied Anthony.
Contracts will be inked with Rosoboronexport, Russia’s arms export agency, in the next two months, a senior Indian Defence Ministry official said.
The upgrades under the deal, worth about $310 million, will be carried out on 46 Mi-8, 78 Mi-17 and 48 Mi-17 (IV) helicopters, an Indian Air Force official said.
According to the proposed deal, two of each of the three helicopter types will be upgraded in Russia, while Indian state-owned HAL will do the rest under license. The projected upgrade target is 36 helicopters each year at HAL.
The upgraded helicopters will be fitted with instrument landing system radar, very high-frequency omni-directional range radar, an advanced weather radar and a digital moving map display.
An unspecified number of helicopters will receive additional improvements, including electro-optical pods, rocket pods in place of existing 57mm guns, and a suite consisting of a radar warning receiver and active missile-approach warning systems.
The Defence Ministry has designated state-owned Bharat Electronics to install its Tarang 1B radar warning receivers on the upgraded Mi-17 helicopters.
State-owned Bharat Dynamics also will improve the cruise missile defense systems on the helicopters designated for additional upgrades.
The Defence Ministry will float global tenders for air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles and other components for the upgrade program, the ministry official said.
The other part of the deal with Russia, the purchase of 80 medium-lift multirole Mi-17(IV) helicopters, will cost about $140 million. The Air Force official said the full purchase will be finalized by the end of 2008.
The Russian-made helicopters supplement the indigenous Dhruv, Cheetah and Chetak copters, which are to be phased out in the next three to five years.
An additional 200-helicopter purchase is planned over the next five years to replace the Cheetahs and Chetaks. HAL had short-listed Russia’s Kazan to co-produce the helicopter, but the Indian Air Force and Army have rejected the proposal, saying the HAL-planned helicopter does not meet their requirements.
The Army and the Air Force want an all-weather, medium-lift helicopter that can conduct missions such as combat search and rescue, tactical troop transport, battlefield support, search and rescue, and airborne mine countermeasures, the Indian Air Force official said.
Kazan Helicopters was short-listed as joint development and production partner with HAL in June after winning a competition that included AgustaWestland, Bell, Eurocopter and Sikorsky