SOURCE: API
The Indian Navy was granted Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on March 16, 2023, presided over by Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh for procurement of Utility Helicopters-Maritime that will be based on the indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and Light Utility Helicopters (LUH) modified for ship-based operations.
The Indian Navy intends to buy 60 utility helicopters based on the ALH for maritime operations through the Buy-Indian IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed, and Manufactured) route of the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020.
The Utility Helicopters-Maritime, a variant of the ALH-Dhruv, will have a greater payload carrying capacity and a maximum total weight of 5.7 tonnes.