May 18, 2012: Three years after announcing the sale India has delivered two of their Chetak and one Cheetah helicopters to Namibia, for a total price of $10 million. The Chetak is a license built (and improved) version of the French Alouette III. It is a 2.1 ton helicopter that seats seven. It can be armed with a machine-gun and rockets. Max speed is 210 kilometers an hour. Endurance is 2.5 hours and range is 290 kilometers.
The Cheetah is a license built version of the French Alouette II. It's a 1.6 ton helicopter that seats four, has a max speed of 185 kilometers an hour and range of 565 kilometers. Endurance is six hours.
So far, India has produced 350 Chetaks and 250 Cheetahs, mostly for internal use. Chetak is being replaced by the locally designed Dhruv. India is trying to export more military equipment and is competing mainly on price. The sale to Namibia also included training of Namibian pilots and maintenance personnel.
