India orders helicopters from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. BANGALORE, India, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- The Indian Ministry of Defense has given Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. a $77.18 million contract for Cheetah single-engine utility helicopters. The aircraft, to be produced over a four-year period, will be used by the Indian army. Under the award, HAL will also provide pilot and technical training to military personnel. The Cheetah is based on a helicopter from Aerospatiale of France, which is part of EADS. It is powered by a Turbomeca TM 333-2M2 free turbine turboshaft engine. It has a range of nearly 400 miles and an endurance of about 3.5 hours. It is used for personnel transport, medical evacuation, reconnaissance and rescue operations and cargo transport using a sling. Among its cockpit instrumentation and features are systems such as electrically driven artificial horizon, directional gyro, flight monitoring, cockpit voice recorder and master flasher warning system.