Army chief throws weight behind ALH, says it will remain workhorse
The Army chief’s remarks comes in the wake of the armed forces grounding the choppers for a thorough safety inspection following a recent crash that put the spotlight on the fleet’s troubling safety record
PUNE: Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Wednesday threw his weight behind the locally produced Dhruv advanced light helicopter (ALH) in the wake of the armed forces grounding the choppers for a thorough safety inspection following a recent crash that put the spotlight on the fleet’s troubling safety record.
“Let me assure the countrymen and my own Indian Army that the ALH has not hit a rough patch. These small accidents keep taking place. All over the world, even the best helicopters meet with such accidents,” he said on the sidelines of the 77th Army Day parade held in Pune.
He was responding to a question on safety concerns surrounding the helicopter.
The army chief’s comments came on a day HT reported that it was uncertain if the Dhruv ALH and its armed version Rudra will take part in the upcoming Republic Day flypast 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 coast guard pilots and an aircrew diver were killed in the latest crash.
The ALH has been designed and developed by Bengaluru-based plane maker Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and often touted as a prime example of indigenisation in the defence sector.
The army flew its ALHs for more than 40,000 hours in 2023-24, Dwivedi said.
“In those 40,000 hours, only one glitch took place. And we are flying these helicopters at altitudes of more than 15,000 feet. The ALH is a workhorse, and it will remain a workhorse. We have 100% confidence in this platform,” he added.
To be sure, the ALH did not take part in Army Day flypast as the fleet is grounded because of flight safety concerns. The choppers have been a regular feature at the Army Day parade, just like the Republic Day parade.
Chetak and Cheetah helicopters took part in the Army Day parade, which was reviewed by Dwivedi.
The three services and the coast guard together operate around 330 ALHs, and the army and the air force account for more than 90 Rudra helicopters --- all of them were grounded after the January 5 crash, along with seven to eight ALHs operated by the Border Security Force and civil entities.
The wreckage of the helicopter that crashed in Porbandar will be flown to Bengaluru in an Indian Air Force aircraft so that HAL can analyse it in detail to 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 is being flown to Bengaluru for a thorough inspection.
These checks could take up to two weeks.
The ALH has been involved in around 15 accidents during the last five years. The coast guard suspended ALH operations following an accident last September too when a helicopter crashed into the Arabian Sea near Porbandar. Then too, two pilots and an aircrew diver were killed.
These accidents are a matter of concern, given that a critical safety upgrade on the military’s ALH fleet, initiated by HAL after a string of accidents in 2023, was completed before the two coast guard mishaps took place. This involved installing upgraded control systems on the helicopters to improve their airworthiness.
The scope of the HAL’s current inspection will be extensive and cover crucial safety aspects. The previous safety inspection (after the September 2024 crash) focused on flying controls and the transmission system.
When the coast guard grounded its fleet last September, the focus of the inspection was on the safety, security, integrity and crack detection checks of several parts, including the main drive flexible shaft and its attachments, main and tail rotor assemblies, upper and lower control systems, and roll, pitch, collective and tail rotor actuators.
The military’s Dhruv fleet, plagued by a nagging design issue, was grounded several times in 2023 too after a raft of accidents called into question its flight safety record.
This led to a comprehensive design review of the helicopter’s booster control rods followed by a drive to replace the flaw-ridden ones with new rods in each ALH.
These rods allow pilots to control the helicopter’s motion, and any failure can severely affect power input to the rotor blades and cause accidents.
A top government regulatory body responsible for the certification of the airworthiness of military aircraft ordered the design review in April 2023. The Bengaluru-based Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) ordered the design review of the booster control rods to improve the ALH’s airworthiness.
Recommended Topics