HAL, Safran Seal Final Deal for Aravalli Engine for 13-Tonne Indian Helicopters

Bengaluru, August 26, 2026 — Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and France’s Safran Helicopter Engines have signed the final contract with their joint venture, SAFHAL Helicopter Engines Pvt Ltd, setting in motion the full development and production programme for Aravalli, a new 3,500–4,000 shaft horsepower turboshaft engine intended for India’s next-generation medium-lift helicopters.

The engine will power two planned twin-engine rotorcraft: HAL’s 13-tonne Indian Multi-Role Helicopter (IMRH) for the Indian Air Force and Army, and the Deck-Based Multi-Role Helicopter (DBMRH) for the Indian Navy. The agreement turns earlier preparatory work into a formal commitment covering design, development, manufacture, supply and lifecycle support for the entire engine programme.

The contract was signed in Bengaluru by Ajay Kumar Shrivastava, HAL’s Director of Engineering, Research and Development, and Olivier Savin, Director of SAFHAL and Executive Vice President (Sales and Marketing) at Safran Helicopter Engines. HAL Chairman and Managing Director Ravi K and Safran Helicopter Engines CEO Cédric Goubet presided over the ceremony.

HAL has named the engine Aravalli after the mountain range in India, one of the world’s oldest. The choice is being presented as a statement of intent for Aatmanirbharta, or self-reliance, in a field that remains among the most difficult in aerospace: propulsion.

What Aravalli is meant to do

Aravalli has been designed specifically for medium-lift helicopters and is intended for twin-engine platforms. Both the IMRH and DBMRH will use two engines in the 3,500–4,000 shp class, giving them the power margin needed for demanding military missions across India’s varied terrain and climate. The programme is meant to meet requirements in hot deserts, high-altitude plateaus, humid coastal conditions and, in the case of the naval helicopter, shipboard operations.

The new engine represents an important step up from the Shakti family, which powers HAL’s lighter helicopters. Under the contract, SAFHAL and its parent companies will work together on advanced design methods, manufacturing processes, testing and product support, with the stated goal of achieving high performance, reliability, maintainability and operational effectiveness in line with international aerospace standards.

For HAL, the engine schedule is closely linked to the helicopter schedule itself. The company has indicated that early IMRH prototypes and ground-test vehicles may fly with existing Safran engines while Aravalli is still being developed, so that airframe work does not have to wait for the new powerplant. Once certified and integrated, Aravalli is expected to provide the power, efficiency and growth margin required by the 13-tonne class.

The IMRH is being developed as a multi-role helicopter for the Indian Air Force and Army and is intended to replace ageing Russian-origin Mi-17 transport helicopters over time. HAL’s previously disclosed design targets for the aircraft include a maximum take-off weight of about 13 tonnes, a five-bladed main rotor of roughly 21.2 metres in diameter, seating for 24 troops in a standard configuration or 36 in a high-density layout, a payload of around 4 tonnes at sea level and about 1.5 tonnes at 4,000 metres altitude, a cruise speed of around 260 km/h, a range of about 800 km, endurance of roughly three hours and a service ceiling in the region of 6,500–6,700 metres.

High-altitude hover and lift capability has been treated as a core design priority, particularly for Himalayan and high-desert operations, rather than simply pursuing higher dash speed.

The DBMRH is the naval derivative of the same family, with a planned weight of 12.5 tonnes and a design tailored for deck-based operations. Together, the two aircraft are intended to give the armed forces a common medium-lift helicopter family with engines built to operate across the full range of India’s military environments.

A bigger challenge than the airframe

In India’s aerospace sector, the engine has often been the harder problem than the helicopter itself. HAL already designs and builds rotary-wing aircraft such as the Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv, the Light Combat Helicopter Prachand and the Light Utility Helicopter, but propulsion has historically depended on foreign or jointly produced cores. The Shakti engine, co-developed with Safran and built in large numbers in India, addressed that gap for the 5–6 tonne class. Aravalli is intended to extend that capability into the medium-lift segment.

HAL CMD Ravi K called the contract “a significant step forward in India’s pursuit of self-reliance in aero-engine technologies” and said the collaboration would create “a strong foundation for powering next-generation Indian helicopter platforms” while also supporting a broader domestic aerospace industrial ecosystem.

For Safran Helicopter Engines, the programme is also an important first. CEO Cédric Goubet said this is the first time Safran HE has taken on co-development of an engine in this power class. “The Aravalli engine programme represents a new chapter in the strategic relationship between France and India, combining the expertise of our teams to develop propulsion systems for future Indian rotorcraft,” he said.

Beyond the military applications, HAL and Safran have also pointed to possible civil uses for the engine, including offshore transport, utility missions and VVIP carriage. The programme is additionally expected to build indigenous maintenance, repair and overhaul capability for a higher-power engine class, an area where India has traditionally depended on original-equipment support.

How the HAL-Safran relationship has evolved

The Aravalli agreement is the latest stage in a partnership that already spans much of HAL’s helicopter ecosystem. Safran’s Artouste engines powered the Cheetah and Chetak light helicopters, which are derived from the Alouette family and continue to serve in high-altitude and utility roles. The jointly developed Shakti engine family powers the ALH Dhruv, the armed Rudra, the Prachand Light Combat Helicopter and the Light Utility Helicopter. Hundreds of Shakti engines have been built in India.

HAL and Safran also operate a separate joint venture in Goa that provides maintenance, repair and overhaul support for TM333 and Shakti engines in Indian service. The Aravalli programme is designed to go well beyond assembly or support and instead pool design, manufacturing, testing and product-support capabilities between the two companies.

The path to the final contract has been gradual. On 8 July 2022, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding to create a joint venture for the development, production, sale and support of helicopter engines, with the IMRH and DBMRH as the first targets. A workshare agreement followed on 15 February 2023, allowing for joint development and HAL participation in core components, which was described as a first in the partnership. SAFHAL Helicopter Engines Pvt Ltd was incorporated in India in November 2023. On 30 August 2024, HAL and SAFHAL signed the airframer contract to begin joint design, development, manufacture, supply and support, and the engine was named Aravalli. The latest contract, signed on 26 August 2026, formally launches development and production.

The Prachand Light Combat Helicopter, already in service and powered by the earlier HAL-Safran Shakti engine, is being cited as an example of the industrial base that the new programme is expected to deepen into a higher-power segment.

Why the programme matters for India and France

The IMRH sits at the centre of HAL’s medium-lift ambitions and India’s effort to reduce dependence on imported military helicopters. The Indian Air Force’s Mi-17 fleet is ageing, and a domestic 13-tonne helicopter with strong high-altitude performance and an engine developed and supported in India would reduce long-term reliance on foreign platforms and propulsion systems. HAL has previously indicated indigenous content targets for the airframe of around 75 per cent, while planning estimates for eventual Indian requirements have ranged from the low hundreds to the 300–400 level across services, though those figures remain estimates rather than firm orders.

For France and Safran, the deal deepens an industrial relationship that already includes Rafale fighters, earlier helicopter engines and maintenance support. Co-developing a 3,500–4,000 shp engine is more strategically significant than licensed production of an existing design, because it involves shared design authority, workshare and possible future civil or export opportunities.

The programme also carries substantial technical risk. Turboshaft development is expensive and complex, and certification, integration and high-altitude testing will take years. Interim engines for early IMRH flying articles will have to transition cleanly to Aravalli once the new engine is ready. The naval DBMRH brings its own challenges, including folding-rotor and deck-environment requirements. Signing the contract does not eliminate those hurdles, but it does convert a long-running plan into a managed programme.

For HAL, the significance lies not just in producing a helicopter, but in moving toward co-owning the propulsion stack for a new generation of Indian military rotorcraft. Whether Aravalli enters service on a schedule that matches the IMRH and DBMRH, and whether the broader ecosystem around design, manufacturing and MRO matures as planned, will determine how far that ambition is realised.