Nepal government is exploring alternative support that aligns with its requirements instead of the six helicopters the United States has offered to the Nepali Army as grant under its Foreign Military Financing programme.

During his Nepal visit in August 2024, US Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard R Verma had announced that the US intends to provide $100 million (Rs15 billion) to strengthen Nepal’s rotary-wing capabilities.

At that time, the fund was under Congressional review, and its availability was uncertain. Following Congressional approval, in January the US Embassy in Kathmandu offered to provide helicopter support to Nepal, multiple government officials familiar with the matter told the Post.

In correspondence with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the US Embassy said it intended to provide six helicopters with rotary-wing capabilities. As per the specification provided to the ministry, the US government offered to provide helicopters and twin-engine rotary-wing aircraft, particularly specialised drones, to deliver critical aerial firefighting through precision water/retardant drops, rapid crew insertion, and night operations.

But after intense discussions, the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, and the Nepali Army decided to send a counter-proposal to the US side to seek military assistance as per Nepal’s requirements and priorities, according to the officials familiar with the development.

“Helicopters are not our priority at present,” one official at the foreign ministry told the Post on the condition of anonymity. “We need aircraft—often referred to as aerial cranes or heavy-lift helicopters—in order to use external slings and hooks to move materials such as steel beams, concrete, wood, and HVAC units, enabling us to transport construction materials in remote areas of the country.”

The official added, “We are sending a counter-proposal to the US side seeking such top-heavy-lift construction helicopters if possible, instead of what it has offered.”

After the Americans repeatedly raised the issue with the Defence Ministry and the army headquarters in Kathmandu, Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ashok Sigdel held talks with some ministers and secretaries in the last few weeks to find a middle path so that Nepal gets what it needs under US priorities.

This, some informed sources say, is also a part of the government’s efforts to balance major powers and neighbours without compromising Nepal’s national security.

Other reasons Nepal plans to seek alternatives to the six helicopters include their high costs of maintenance, fuel, procurement of spare parts and training.

“Soon we will communicate with the US side about our requirements and priorities within the limit of $100 million support it has announced to provide,” said the foreign ministry official.

Defence Ministry officials, however, say they were unaware of the alternative proposal.

“I am only aware of the back-to-back correspondence between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Nepali Army and the US Embassy in Kathmandu,” Manoj Kumar Acharya, spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence, told the Post.

When asked to comment on the US’s intention to offer six military helicopters to the Nepali Army, its spokesperson, Brigadier General Raja Ram Basnet, gave a similar response. He said the support comes from the government, but the army was unaware of it.

The proposal to provide six helicopters is in addition to five the US announced to provide in grant earlier. In August last year, the US delivered two new M28 Skytrucks to the Nepali Army through a $37 million Foreign Military Financing grant, expanding Nepal’s fleet to five.

The US had already provided two Skytrucks in 2019 while Nepal purchased one. It provided two more helicopters in September last year.

Along with the Skytrucks, the US had also proposed supporting the Nepali Army with one Bell helicopter, but this is not going to come before 2027, according to multiple government officials the Post spoke to.

During Verma’s visit in August 2024, the US embassy also revealed that the US was ready to help the Nepali Army in acquiring helicopters for disaster response.

Then, during then army chief Prabhu Ram Sharma’s visit to the United States in 2022, the Nepali Army had requested US support for the procurement of two rotary-wing aircraft. These aircraft are small drones capable of vertical take-off and landing, autonomous hovering, slow cruising, high manoeuvrability, and have higher payload capacity compared to fixed-wing aircraft.

Verma, in his visit, had also confirmed that the US is providing two additional Bell helicopters to support Nepal’s disaster response capabilities.

Before that, the Nepali Army had planned to procure two helicopters from Russia. But the US quickly offered two Bell helicopters instead.