Italian defense company Leonardo announced on February 3the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Adani Enterprises Ltd, a division of Indian defense sector giant Adani Defence & Aerospace, to create an integrated helicopter manufacturing ecosystem in India, meeting the growing needs of the armed forces and advancing the country toward self-sufficiency in helicopter production.
The signed agreement includes preliminary arrangements for production localization, maintenance, repair, including major overhauls, and pilot training. Regarding specific helicopter types, the focus is on the AW169M and AW109 TrekkerM, among others.
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Leonardo emphasizes that overall, this involves thousands of highly skilled jobs for the Indian industry and also strengthens India's position as a helicopter manufacturing hub. They also highlight the potential expansion into civil aviation and integration into international supply chains.
Ashish Rajvanshi, CEO of Adani Defence & Aerospace, noted that the projected demand for helicopters for India's armed forces exceeds 1,000 units, so the partnership with Italian company Leonardo brings to life our vision of domestic production.
As we can see, India relies on cooperation with Western companies in the helicopter sector. A highly illustrative example is that, after purchasing Apache helicopters for its military, an agreement was signed in 2015 with Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) to establish a joint venture to manufacture fuselages for these helicopters.
The official opening of production facilities took place in spring 2018, and by summer, the first manufactured fuselage was delivered ahead of schedule. Moreover, 90% of components are manufactured directly in India, involving over 100 suppliers, including small and medium-sized businesses.
Beyond cooperation with other countries, India is also investing in its own development. In March 2025, news broke of a massive $ 7.2 billion order for 156 Prachand attack helicopters, with delivery scheduled for 2028-2032.
The Prachand can certainly be classified as a long-term project, as India announced the need to develop a domestic attack helicopter back in 2004, with official design work beginning in 2006. Meanwhile, two years passed between the approval of the purchase of over 150 units and the actual contract signing.
In the context of India's helicopter fleet, it's also worth mentioning the story of how India grounded nearly 200 Dhruv helicopters amid a possible war with Pakistan.
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