indian army to get its own six boeing apaches helicopters,central approved the purchase.

New Delhi: The Ministry of Defense took a big decision on Thursday. The Ministry gave approval for the Indian Army to buy six Apache combat helicopters and other weapon systems at a cost of 4168 crore from the US company Boeing. This will be the first fleet of combat helicopter in the army.

This order has been made in accordance with the agreement signed with India’s Boeing and the US Government in September 2015. Then there was an agreement for 22 Apache helicopters and 15 Chinook heavy cargo helicopters.

The Boeing-manufactured helicopters and associated equipment cleared by the council are expected to cost around Rs 4,168 crore, defence ministry sources said.

Attack helicopters have been on the army’s wish list for several years, but the air force has objected to the plan.

Sources of the Ministry of Defense said that six ‘AH-64-E’ helicopters will come with assistive devices, spare parts and weapon system. According to sources, a long pending proposal to purchase a combat helicopter for the army was approved in the Defense Purchase Council (DAC) meeting, headed by Defense Minister Arun Jaitley.

According to sources, the DAC also approved the proposal for buying two gas turbine engines for the Navy ships from Ukraine with a cost of Rs 490 crore.