Aero India 2023: HAL And France's Safran Sign Agreement To Develop New Engine For Indian Multirole Helicopter

In a major development for the indigenous helicopter engine program, HAL and French Engine-maker Safran announced the inking of the work share agreement for the development of the engine of the Indian Multi-Role Helicopter (IMRH) on the sidelines of Aero India 2023.

The IMRH and Deck-Based Multi-Role Helicopters (DBMRH) are new generation helicopters that HAL is developing for the three Armed forces.

These helicopters will weigh 13 tonnes and replace Mi-17s and Mi-17 V5s in the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Indian Army (IA) inventory, which will start retiring in 2028.

Earlier last year (July 2022), HAL signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Safran to jointly co-develop these engines. With the agreement signed today, the two have divided the workshare between them.

According to the agreement, HAL will design, develop and manufacture core engine components, making it one of a kind of agreement with any foreign engine maker.

The agreement will transfer breakthrough technologies and critical know-how to HAL, which until now was denied.

The statement released after the signing of the agreement says HAL will manufacture seven critical forging and casting raw parts, which will further increase the localisation of Shakti engines for Dhruv and LCH helicopters.