New Delhi, Oct. 26 -- Looking to replace the vintage fleet of its Cheetah/Chetak choppers, the Defence Ministry on Monday approved a Rs 20,000 crore proposal to buy 200 light multirole helicopters for the Indian Army and Air Force.

As per the proposal, the 200 helicopters to be acquired by the two forces would be built in India with Indian companies in the lead.

The proposal for the 200 LMRH was cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council in its meeting today. The contract is expected to be split between the L1 and L2 in the programme, defence officials said.

Defence sources said major players in the project would be Tata, along with its partner Airbus, while Adani Group would be partnering with Leonardo of Italy. Bell Helicopters of th...