This project was announced by HAL Rotor Wing Research & Development Centre (RWRDC) Design Chief Dr. Prasad Sampath while speaking on 'Development of Helicopters in India – An Overview' today, at the Aero India 2009's International Seminar on 'Aerospace – Perspectives and Trends in Technologies', being held in Bengaluru from February 9th through 12th. He said that as the Chetak was already flying, he did not foresee any difficulties in converting it into a rotary-wing UAV, as all it required was integration of the command and control systems. HAL's Chetak is a version of the French Alouette helicopter.
Dr. Sampath said HAL was also working on a 12-ton class 'Indian Multi-role Helicopter, and that present estimates were that India has a requirement of 290 such machines. He said that HAL was concentrating on helicopter design and production, and had established a separate helicopter complex within the company, with a separate managing director. Looking forward to the next 20 years, he said that while military helicopter requirements might decline, all indications were that demand for civil helicopters was set to increase. Sampath added that HAL was looking at the worldwide market for civilian helicopters.
(Source: domain-b.com Aviation & Aerospace)