IAF to hire choppers for Army requirements

New Delhi, Oct 19 (PTI) The Indian Air Force is planning to hire helicopters from private and public sectors for ferrying troops and cargo for Army''s requirements in areas close to borders with China and Pakistan."To meet the requirements of Army and the Border Roads Organization, which are in excess of the air tonnage provided by our helicopters. The IAF is facilitating the process of augmenting rotary wing efforts to sustain requirements of the two sister services," IAF spokesperson said here.For Army posts and bases located in high altitude areas such as Siachen, the IAF carries out the air maintenance operations using its fleet of Mi-17 and Cheetah/Chetak helicopters.Due to increased requirements of the Army and the BRO, this year the IAF has issued the tender for hiring private operators to airlift supplies to 60 locations in the northern sector, including forward posts in Tangdhar, Parkian Gali and Navapachi, and 24 locations in the eastern sector, including Chuna, Taksing and Gelemo.The requirement is for choppers that can carry up to 2,000 kg of supplies and can land and take off from high altitude locations.The IAF will hire these choppers for one year period.To augment its load-carrying capabilities, the IAF is inducting 80 Mi-17 V5 helicopters from Russia and also looking to place orders for another 59 to replace the ones being phased out from the Mi-17 and Mi-8 fleet.The first batch of four Mi-17 V5s have already arrived in the country and have been deployed in Bhatinda in Punjab. The remaining choppers are likely to join the fleet in next couple of years.