HAL likely to be in fray for Navy’s NUHs after defence ministry junks Coast Guard chopper deal

The Ministry of Defence is likely to allow state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to bid for the Navy’s programme to buy 111 naval utility helicopters (NUHs), as the Narendra Modi government reviews all foreign procurement programmes in favour of indigenous systems, ThePrint has learnt.

The Navy’s proposed NUH programme comes under the ‘strategic partnership’ route, which will allow a selected foreign Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to partner a nominated Indian company to manufacture the choppers domestically.

Sources in the defence and security establishment told ThePrint that the naval programme will come under discussion as soon as the government focuses on pruning the list of projects under the ‘Buy Global’ category in favour of indigenous projects.

Under the Buy Global category, procurement is done directly from the foreign OEM.