Adani Leonardo Deal Signals India's Military Helicopter Pivot
Adani-Leonardo tie-up targets India’s ageing helicopter fleet, with local manufacturing, tech transfer, and private sector entry reshaping military aviation procurement.
In a major move following the defence cooperation push in the India-European Union trade deal, Leonardo and Adani Defence & Aerospace signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) earlier this month to jointly chase India’s long‑pending military helicopter programmes.
The new alliance with Italy’s leading helicopter manufacturer marks a pivotal shift in India’s military procurement, as the private sector moves to plug a serviceability cliff that has left nearly 80% of the country’s light helicopter fleet ageing or obsolete.
What’s In The Deal?
The pact lays the groundwork for a fully integrated helicopter manufacturing ecosystem in India, starting with local assembly of the AW169M for the Navy’s Naval Utility Helicopter (NUH) contest. The roadmap also includes the AW109 for the Army and Air Force’s Reconnaissance & Surveillance Helicopter (RSH) requirement- a procurement derailed four times since 2003.
Request for proposals, now open to the private sector, are expected next year.
The collaboration goes beyond platform bids, with both committing to phased indigenisation, MRO infrastructure, simulators and pilot‑training capability, positioning the venture as a long‑term industrial anchor rather than a transactional contender.
“This agreement is not an isolated event. The visit of the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission in late January laid the foundation for deeper security and defence cooperation with India,” said Antonio Enrico Bartoli, Italy’s Ambassador to India, during the signing of the MoU. He noted further investment discussions with Adani in Italy are underway.
India’s defence establishment is signalling alignment. Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary of Defence, called the MoU an example of how private sector initiatives, too, can contribute to India’s defence ambitions.
The Defence Acquisition Procedure 2026 has now been released for industry comments on the Ministry of Defence website- an overture to faster, more flexible procurement.
The Why
The deal is driven by an operational crisis where around 650 of India’s 800 military helicopters are ageing Cheetahs and Chetaks and early Mi‑17s are approaching retirement. These legacy aircraft are currently operating on a "37% serviceability cliff" as spare parts ecosystems collapse, creating severe strain in high-altitude sectors.
This crisis is exacerbated by persistent delays in state-run HAL’s Light Utility Helicopter (LUH), which has struggled with autopilot glitches, rotor vibrations, and certification issues. Furthermore, the partnership follows a late-January visit by European Union leadership, signalling a broader strategic push to deepen India-EU security ties and defence cooperation through more flexible procurement frameworks like the draft Defence Acquisition Procedure 2026.
The long‑delayed acquisition of 76 naval utility helicopters (NUH) and 200 reconnaissance and surveillance helicopters (RSH) is to plug this widening operational gap.
Competitors for the Navy’s naval utility helicopters must field a twin‑engine, 5.5‑ton, foldable‑blade, maritime‑ready platform — a niche where Leonardo’s AW169M is strongly positioned. Airbus is expected to pitch the H160M, while Bell brings the 429. HAL, despite its expanding portfolio, currently lacks a twin‑engine naval utility helicopter in this weight class.
Caccia Cesare, senior vice president at Leonardo Helicopters, said the new trade framework “will make it easier to build in India,” signalling smoother pathways for localisation and industrial scale‑up.
What Next?
Full details of the Adani–Leonardo production roadmap will be released in the coming weeks, confirmed Ashish Rajvanshi, CEO, Adani Defence & Aerospace.
Under the Buy and Make category, the Indian partner will act as prime integrator, importing a limited number of fully built helicopters initially before standing up full manufacturing, assembly, and integration lines in India for the bulk of the order, with the foreign OEM as technology partner.
Tata–Airbus is positioning the Airbus H125M for India’s 200‑unit RSH contest, while Mumbai‑based Max Aerospace & Aviation has emerged as an aggressive private challenger to HAL’s long‑standing monopoly.
Max has signed a $960 million MoU with the Maharashtra government to build a helicopter manufacturing ecosystem in Nagpur, including avionics, hydraulics, tooling, and a final assembly line for the Bell 407GXi.
Max CEO Bharat Malkani told The Core Maharashtra is “building an ecosystem for manufacturing capability… They have a long‑term vision.”
Leonardo is pitching the twin‑engine AW109, which “fits the global benchmark,” according to Cesare. But an aeronautical engineer countered that global benchmarks are irrelevant at 18,000 ft.
“India’s benchmark is Siachen, not Switzerland. The AW109’s weight‑to‑power ratio and twin‑engine penalty limit its ability to meet extreme‑altitude Hover Out of Ground Effect — the helicopter’s ability to hover without the aerodynamic lift benefit that comes from being close to the ground,” Cesare said.
Leonardo, earlier AgustaWestland, exited India nearly 14 years ago after being blacklisted, and three of the 12 AW101 VVIP helicopters delivered before the freeze remain parked at Palam airport for lack of spares, a politically and contractually frozen issue. The company re‑entered India in 2021 through the civil route and has since delivered around ten business aircraft. Leonardo now operates under a Best Practices compliance framework, a governance model that several defence ministries treat as a benchmark for transparent contracting and industrial partnerships.
