HAL’s production of light combat helicopter takes off
On Saturday in Bengaluru, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley underlined the growing capabilities of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) by inaugurating the production of the indigenous design Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), which has been designed, developed and will now be manufactured by HAL.
On November 7, the defence ministry had cleared the procurement of 15 LCHs for an indicative cost of ~2,911 crore — a little under ~200 crore per helicopter.
Beyond the current initial order, the army has committed to ordering 114 LCHs, and the air force another 65.
HAL has custom-designed the 5.8 tonne light attack helicopter to provide fire support to the army at mountainous deployment areas on the northern borders, which can be as high as 6,000 metres (almost 20,000 feet).
At these rarefied altitudes, where the shortage of oxygen prevents troops from carrying heavy weapons into battle, the LCH will provide crucial fire support with its 20 millimetre turret gun, 70 millimetre rockets and, to be incorporated later, a guided missile.
“The LCH has demonstrated capability to land and take off from Siachen Range (sic) with considerable load, fuel and weapons that are beyond any other combat helicopter”, stated HAL on Saturday.
Highlighting the LCH’s versatility, HAL stated: “The helicopter can carry out operational roles under extreme weather conditions at different altitudes from sea level, hot weather desert, cold weather and Himalayan altitudes.”
The superb high-altitude performance of the LCH, like that of its precursor in service, the Dhruv advanced light helicopter (ALH), stems from twin Shakti engines, designed for HAL by French helicopter engine maker Turbomeca (now Safran Helicopter Engines). While the Shakti’s performance at low altitudes is comparable to other engines of its size, it outperforms them significantly at altitudes above 5,000 feet.
The LCH has a narrow fuselage, in which two pilots sit one-behind-the-other in an armoured cockpit that can protect them from small arms firing. Like the Dhruv ALH, on which many of the LCH’s flying technologies were tested, the new attack helicopter has a hinge-less main rotor, a bearing-less tail rotor, integrated dynamic system, crashworthy landing gear and a smart allglass cockpit. The LCH’s weapons and sensors were developed and tested on an armed variant of the Dhruv, called the Rudra. HAL’s chairman, T Suvarna Raju, says this evolutionary approach drastically cut down on the LCH’s development time.