BANGALORE, India. Feb 18 (Interfax) - Russia will equip a repair plant in the Indian city of Chandigarh in order to organize post-sale maintenance of Russian helicopters shipped to the region.
"Now a modern service center for the maintenance of helicopters produced in Russia is being created in the city of Chandigarh within the framework of an offset component of the contract for the delivery of Mil Mi-17B-5 helicopters. In particular the repair plant in Chandigarh will be equipped with a line to repair VK-2500 engines. It will also have 16 lines for repairing aircraft hardware and flight structures," deputy general director of the Russian Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) Anatoly Punchuk, who heads Russia's delegation to the Aero India 2015 air and space show in Bangalore, told Interfax.
After the plant is built, one will be able to almost fully overhaul Russian helicopters in Chandigarh, he said. The new service center will allow reduced costs and increase the quality and the speed of post-sales maintenance of helicopters in the region, he added.
A joint venture for helicopter maintenance between Russian Helicopters holding and India's Vectra Group that was announced in 2011 "stopped its activity for various reasons", he said. However, India's helicopter fleet requires a modern service center, he said, noting that just India's Defense Ministry alone operates around 200 transport helicopters from Russia.