New Delhi, June 28: The navy’s vital anti-submarine warfare vehicle — the Sea King helicopter — is set to get a new lease of life five years after sanctions imposed by the West nearly grounded the fleet. The Sea King surveillance helicopters of the navy are equipped with detection equipment, sonobuoys and depth charges and perform the crucial task of hunting down enemy submarines.

Pakistan’s acquisition of French-made Agosta submarines and China’s beefing up of its submarine force and heightened military activity in the Indian Ocean region has made it imperative for the navy to strengthen its anti-submarine warfare platforms. But, with the Sea Kings bearing the brunt of sanctions, the navy was experiencing a real depletion of its force level.

The deputy chief of naval staff, Vice Admiral S.V. Gopalachari, and the chairman of the defence public sector outfit Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, .R. Mohanty, worked on an alternative line of supplies of spares for the Sea Kings on the quiet since the US stopped selling the components. In March, HAL signed a technology transfer agreement with Westland Helicopter Limited, UK, and it will now set up a facility in its main Bangalore plant to overhaul and service transmission systems in the Sea Kings.

“The helicopters would henceforth be overhauled in India in a facility worth Rs 71.68 crore,” Mohanty said today. The vice admiral said the navy was also working on an agreement to overhaul and upgrade the four squadrons of Sea Kings. The helicopters were inducted into the navy in the late 1980s.

HAL has also tied up with Israeli Aviation Industries to market the indigenous advanced light helicopter christened Dhruv.