Overview
- HAL and HENSOLDT signed the co‑development agreement at the Dubai Airshow 2025, a day after senior officials affirmed intent at the India–Germany High Defence Committee meeting in New Delhi.
- The system centers on HENSOLDT’s SferiSense LiDAR paired with a Degraded Visual Environment computer and synthetic vision to detect thin wires, pylons and terrain features in real time beyond 1 km, with reported 99.5% detection probability in the first second.
- The suite targets a major cause of helicopter mishaps by cutting Controlled Flight Into Terrain risk during brownouts, whiteouts, fog and low‑level flight common across India’s deserts, glaciers and high valleys.
- The agreement includes transfer of design and manufacturing IP, local build and long‑term sustainment in India, with HAL gaining rights to manufacture, integrate and export the OAS/DVE solution.
- Initial integration is planned on indigenous HAL platforms such as the LCH Prachand and Dhruv ALH, with production planning centered on HAL’s Korwa facility and officials calling the deal the most significant India–Germany defence tech transfer in nearly three decades.