ALH grounding a setback, will sort it out soon: Defence secretary

The grounding of the locally produced Dhruv advanced light helicopter (ALH) in the wake of a recent crash has come as a slight setback for the armed forces

The grounding of the locally produced Dhruv advanced light helicopter (ALH) in the wake of a recent crash has come as a slight setback for the armed forces and it will not be taking part in the Republic Day flypast, defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said on Monday.

The grounding of the locally produced Dhruv advanced light helicopter (ALH) has come as a slight setback for the armed forces and it will not be taking part in the Republic Day flypast, defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said. (PTI)

“The ALH’s grounding is a little bit of a setback. But (the issues) will get sorted out soon. It is not taking part in the parade as a safety grounding has taken place... but 39 aircraft will take part, and 12 different formations will be displayed. Some helicopters will be there, only the ALH will not be there,” he said at a media briefing in South Block ahead of the 76th Republic Day parade.

The military’s ALH fleet of around 330 helicopters, designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), was grounded a fortnight ago after a coast guard helicopter crashed at Porbandar in Gujarat on January 5, with authorities still struggling to determine the cause of the accident.

Two pilots and an aircrew diver were killed in the latest crash.

The wreckage of the helicopter has been flown to Bengaluru for HAL to analyse it in detail, find out what went wrong and take steps to fix the problems so that the helicopters can return to service soon.

The integrated drive system, including the transmission system, gearbox and rotor hub, of the ALH that crashed in Porbandar was flown to Bengaluru for a thorough inspection last week.

The ALH has been involved in around 15 accidents during the last five years.

This year’s parade, which will be witnessed by around 77,000 spectators, will feature the indigenous Pralay surface-to-surface missile, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), for the first time, Singh said. The missile has a range of 150 to 500 km, depending on the payload.

The parade will be heralded by 300 artistes playing a variety of Indian martial musical instruments and will include a cultural performance by around 5,000 folk and tribal artistes, compared to 1,500 women dancers last year.

“What is unique this year is that from a military character, we wanted the parade to become a broader societal, cultural programme,” Singh said.

Last year, instead of the traditional military bands, the parade was for the first time heralded by 112 women artistes playing musical instruments from across the country, including folk and tribal percussion instruments.

Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto will be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations. A 160-member Indonesian military contingent and a 190-member band contingent from that country will also take part in the parade, Singh said. Last year, French marching and band contingents participated in the parade at which French President Emmanuel Macron was the chief guest.

Foreign soldiers took part in the parade for the first time in 2016 when a French army contingent of 130 soldiers marched down Rajpath (now Kartavya Path). Then French President Francois Hollande was the chief guest that year. This was followed by a United Arab Emirates contingent in 2017, a Bangladesh army contingent in 2021 and an Egyptian marching squad in 2023.

The parade will feature 18 marching contingents, 15 bands and 31 tableaux from different states, union territories, ministries and the armed forces, he said. Two of those will be showcasing the theme of 75 years of the Indian Constitution.

The states showcasing their tableaux are Bihar, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Goa, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Haryana.

The Republic Day line-up will feature a variety of fighter jets, transport aircraft, attack helicopters, tanks, infantry combat vehicles, missile and rocket systems, a raft of fighting vehicles, soldiers on horseback, and the much-loved Border Security Force camel contingent.

The spectators will include 10,000 special guests in line with the government’s efforts to increase

‘Jan Bhagidari or people’s participation. These guests will include sarpanches from top performing villages, disaster relief workers, forest and wildlife conservation volunteers, road construction workers, Anganwadi workers, best start-ups, patent holders and best performing beneficiaries of government schemes.