HAL to provide 32 ALH-Dhruv choppers to Navy, Coast Guard (Lead)

New Delhi March 30 (IANS) Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has signed a contract with the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) to provide 32 advanced light helicopter Dhruv (ALH-Dhruv) said an official release on Thursday.

Of the 32 helicopters to be built by HAL 16 each would be shared by both the services. The Rs 8 000-crore deal includes Performance-based Logistics (PBL) support for five years for 16 helicopters for the ICG. Speaking on the deal T. Suvarna Raju Chairman and Managing Director HAL said: The PBL is the purchase of logistics support as an integrated affordable performance package designed to optimise system readiness and meet performance goals for the product through long-term support arrangements with clear lines of authority and responsibility. The contracts were signed by V. Natarajan General Manager (Helicopter Division) HAL and Jayant Sinha Joint Secretary Ministry of Defence here on Wednesday. As per the PBL contract the responsibility for the maintenance will be with HAL and it will have to ensure the fleet availability. The services in the past have blamed the lower availability of the aircraft to the inadequate support from the manufacturers. The PBL envisages rewards or penalties based on the performance. The indigenously designed and developed ALH-DHRUV is a twin-engine multi-role multi-mission new generation helicopter. --IANS rs/nir/bg