India to Supply Dhruv Choppers to Mauritius

India will supply 'Dhruv' Advanced Light Helicopter to Mauritius, the second country after Equador to get the multi-role, multi-mission new generation chopper.The helicopter, built by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, is likely to be handed over this month to Mauritius for use by its police, officials said here.The state-of-the-art helicopter is being supplied under an inter-governmental MoU concluded last week.

The chopper, which costs around seven million USD, is being supplied under a USD 100 million line of credit extended by India to Mauritius over three years ago, they said.Equador became the first country to acquire Dhruv helicopters last month when it signed a contract for seven choppers for its Air Force.The armed version of Dhruv can be fitted with rockets and a 20 mm gun. Dhruv also has a variant which is equipped with 'fire and forget' air-to-air missiles and 70 mm rockets that can be fired in direct and indirect mode.Dhruv won the Equadorian contract, outperforming rival machines from from global majors like Eurocopter, mainly due to its lower price tag.

Equador already got five helicopters and the remaining two will be handed over in six months.To ensure that Equador has no problem in maintaining the Dhruv fleet, HAL is posting a team of engineers in that country for the warranty period of two years.Carrying all necessary tools required for maintenance, the team of engineers will train the Equadorian Air Force to maintain the choppers in future.More Latin American countries, including Columbia and Chile are considering to buy Dhruv choppers.

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