BENGALURU: PSU Defense Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) said on Tuesday that in another big boost to the indigenous program, the 300th advanced light helicopter (ALH-Dhruv) left its hangar.
R Madhavan, CMD, HAL said: “The ALH never looked back from the day the prototype took its maiden flight on August 30, 1992 and has become a world class helicopter with its incomparable performance. The evolution of ALH Mark-I to Mark-IV it has been phenomenal and is a boost for indigenous helicopter design and development. ”
GVS Bhaskar, CEO of HAL Helicopter Complex, said the implementation was a testament to the capabilities HAL has built over the years with the concerted efforts of employees and customer support.
“With more ALH entering services, our focus on customer service is increasing. With more than 2.8 lakh flight hours, ALH has proven to be a multi-role helicopter for any mission, anywhere, anytime, ”he said.
Currently, HAL is producing 73 ALHs contracted for the Army (41), Indian Navy (16) and the Indian Coast Guard (16). Of this, 38 ALHs have already been produced and the rest will be completed in 2022.
LCH ground run
In addition, the power supply unit said it also carried out the ‘ground test’ of the first limited series production (LSP) of the limited series production of light combat helicopters (LCH-LSP).
This project has been taken over by the company proactively while the request for services at HAL is in process. The LCH was piloted by Gp Capt (retd) Hari Krishnan Nair S, Chief Test Pilot and Gp Capt (Retd) CG Narasimha Prasad, Senior Flight Operations Flight Test Engineer, HAL Rotary Wing.
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