Indian Navy Wet-Leases Two AgustaWestland Choppers From Domestic Operator

To boost its logistics operations, the Indian Navy has taken two Leonardo Helicopters (formerly AgustaWestland) AW139 helicopters on wet lease from a domestic operator.

According to Indian Navy officials, the AW139 contract was signed a few months ago, and one of the two choppers was already operationally deployed on one of the two seaboards of the country.

The Indian operator Global Vectra was providing the wet lease choppers for logistics operations currently, they said.

These two civilian choppers would not be put to any military use and would only be deployed for logistics and transportation between the shore and warships at sea, they said.

Each of the choppers would be made available to the Western and Eastern Naval Commands as per the wet lease arrangement.

The Indian Navy would take a final call if it would require more of these civilian helicopter fleet for logistics operations in the future, based on its experience and feedback on operating the currently leased two AW139 helicopters, the officials said.

At present, the Indian Navy is pursuing multiple helicopter procurement programmes, including the acquisition of the UH Marine Helicopters from the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the Naval Utility Helicopter for logistics operations, apart from inducting the large Naval Multi-Role Helicopters for anti-submarine warfare.

The latest wet lease of civilian helicopters came as the Indian Navy’s Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters fleet was grounded for a long while following technical troubles faced by them, the officials said.

Though the Dhruv fleet have restarted the flying operations, they are still under scrutiny, since it was grounded after an Indian Coast Guard Dhruv chopper had crashed in Porbandar in January 2025