March 04, 2013: After years of diffidence, the Indian Army has ordered 20 Cheetal helicopters from HAL in a deal worth Rs 418 crore. The choppers will be delivered over the next four years. "HAL will also provide training to the pilots and technical crew. This is the first contract for supply of Cheetal helicopters to the Indian Army. HAL had the initial order for 10 Cheetal helicopters from Indian Air Force," said HAL in a statement.

Cheetal is the re-engined variant (developed as a HAL company-funded effort) of the proven Alouette-II/Cheetah platform that HAL has manufactured under license since the 1970s. The Cheetal sports a Turbomeca TM 333-2M2 free turbine turboshaft engine which is more fuel efficient and provides higher payload capability of 90 kg at an altitude of 6 km. Cheetal helicopter can operate up to seven km altitude and has a range of 640 km with an endurance of 3.50 hrs. According to HAL, the Cheetal is fitted with a full authority digital engine control (FADEC) system for engine control and an electronic backup control box (EBCB) system which automatically takes over engine control in the event of FADEC failure. Cheetal incorporates features of modern cockpit instruments like electrically driven artificial horizon, directional gyro, flight monitoring system, cockpit voice recorder and master flasher warning system.

The Cheetal helicopter is a multi-role helicopter, which is best suited for the missions such as personnel transport, casualty evacuation, reconnaissance and aerial survey, logistic air support, rescue operations and under slung loads (cargo). The Army order is a significant one for HAL, considering that the Army was initially not certain about the platform's efficacy, given that its transmission system remained the same. Also, the Army is in procurement mode and is awaiting a MoD decision on the reconnaissance and surveillance helicopter (RSH) programme, which seeks to obtain replacement platforms for the Cheetahs and Chetaks in Army and IAF service.