The Indian Army Wives Agitation Group said in the letter that 31 military pilots had died, not by fighting the enemy, but in accidents involving the Cheetah and Chetak helicopters since 2017.
Wives of Army men have claimed that 42 Chetak and Cheetah helicopters have crashed between 2001 and 2014, killing around 80 officers. But the defence ministry has planned a grand show to celebrate the Chetak.
'Unbridgeable differences' have emerged over six years of negotiations in the deal to acquire all 200 Kamov Ka-226T light utility helicopters, defence sources said.