LCH makes maiden flight with indigenous automatic flight control system

AFCS is designed and developed for first time in country by HAL

State-owned defence PSU, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), on Wednesday carried out the first flight of the Light Combat Helicopter (Technology Demonstrator-2) with its own designed and developed Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) for the first time in the country.

The maiden flight was flawless and flew for 20 minutes with the engagement of the system throughout, a HAL release said.

The development of indigenous AFCS is an HAL-funded project and will replace the high value imported system, said chairman and managing director, T Suvarna Raju.

The AFCS is a digital four-axis flight control system capable of performing control and stability augmentation function and auto-pilot modes of helicopters. The indigenous development of the Hardware, Software and Control Law is a fully in-house effort of HAL R&D Centres - RWR&DC and MCSRDC in Bengaluru, SLRDC in Hyderabad and Korwa Division, he said.

Wg Cdr( Retd) Unni K Pillai, Chief Test Pilot and Gp. Capt (Retd) Rajesh Verma, Test Pilot were on the controls of LCH. Representatives from certification agencies and senior officers from HAL were present.

HAL has already indigenised the Cockpit Display System on LCH. This includes the Integrated Architecture Display System (IADS) with the participation of Indian private industries and development flight testing is under progress.

The Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) for LCH was accorded on August 26, 2017, in the presence of the defence minister.