The civil variant of the indigenous chopper got its first contract for ONGC’s offshore operations this month; military version has evoked international interest; HAL hopes to benefit from growing civil aviation demand.

With the civil variant of the indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) getting its first contract recently, officials said they are looking at the steady expansion of demand for this helicopter in the civil aviation space.

In April, State-owned Pawan Hans Limited had offered four HAL-made Dhruv-NG helicopters for the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s offshore operations in its successful bid for ONGC’s global tender valued over ₹2,141 crore, for a period of 10 years. It was officially awarded the contract earlier this month.