By A Correspondent

New Delhi: India has initiated a search for wet leasing two Italian aerospace and defence major Leonardo Helicopters (formerly AgustaWestland) from a domestic operator to boost the navy’s logistics operations between the shore and sea.

The Indian Navy issued a request to wet-lease two AW139 helicopters from Global Vectra Helicorp Limited, a civilian operator from which it had already wet-leased one of the choppers a few months ago and operationally deployed it on one of the two sea boards of the country.

The two wet-leased AW139 helicopters would be used only for logistics and transportation between the shore and warships at sea, and not for any other military use, navy officers, with knowledge of the matter, said. One AW139 of the two on wet-lease would be deployed in the Western and Eastern Naval Command areas under the agreement.

On the requirement for more such logistics helicopters, the Indian Navy would take a final call based on the experience and feedback from the naval air wings under which the choppers would be operated.

The wet-lease arrangement was pursued after the current Indian Navy Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters built by the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) were grounded for prolonged periods following a crash of an Indian Coast Guard helicopter at Porbandar in Gujarat in January 2025.

The Indian Navy’s Dhruv fleet is flying again after technical checks, but under strict scrutiny. Hence, the AW139 wet-lease programme was being pursued, the officers said.

The Indian Navy also has multiple helicopter procurement programmes underway: the Utility Helicopters Marine from HAL, Naval Utility Helicopters for logistics, and larger Naval Multi-Role Helicopters for anti-submarine warfare.

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