NEW DELHI (Pajhwok) Ahead of visit of Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, India has delivered three Cheetal helicopters along with allied equipment to Afghanistan as part of the defence cooperation between the two nations, a junior Indian defence minister told the Parliament on Friday.
Indian Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh told the lower house that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has proposed to deliver helicopters to Afghanistan and the government of India has delivered three Cheetal Helicopters with allied equipment and spares to Afghanistan based on the agreement with the Ministry of External Affairs.
The helicopters, he said were dispatched to Afghanistan on April 9, 2015, he informed. These helicopters have been test flown and accepted by Afghanistan pilots, he said.
The Cheetah Helicopter (identical to LAMA SA 315B Helicopter of Eurocopter, France) is a high performance helicopter designed for operation over a very wide range of weight, centre of gravity and altitude conditions.
The five seater Cheetah helicopter is versatile, multi role, multipurpose, highly maneuverable and rugged in construction. It holds the world record in high altitude flying among all categories of Helicopters.
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