Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in India has selected Avio to improve the Dhruv advanced light helicopter's (ALH) integrated dynamic system (IDS), which transfers power from the Shakti engines to the helicopter rotors.

Under the contract, the Italian aerospace propulsion major will fix an engine snag that is limiting ALH's flying speed to 250km/h, which is short of the 270km/h that HAL had promised.

Avio will begin building a single HAL-designed IDS in its facilities in Italy after identifying the problem and it will then test-run the system for 400-500 hours.

In case the Avio-built IDS fails to meet the performance requirements during the test run, Avio will redesign the IDS, according to Business Standard.

The Indian Army and the IAF are planning to induct 31 new HAL-built Dhruv mk3 helicopters into service by 2010-end as part of a contract awarded to HAL last year for 159 Dhruv aircraft.

The final batch of aircraft is scheduled to be delivered by 2015.