Indian Navy flies Dhruv choppers before President Murmu at International Fleet Review 2026

After remaining grounded for more than a year, the Dhruv advanced lightweight helicopters of the Indian Navy are finally flying again with five of them appearing on Wednesday at the International Fleet Review here, witnessed by President Droupadi Murmu.

The permission received by the navy came with conditions. The force would fly an ALH for 100 hours at a stretch after which the aircraft would be subjected to a thorough check before being allowed to fly again, sources said.

All the 24 ALH of the navy have not been cleared as it has been decided to raise the number progressively. The indigenous aircraft has been flying for the last couple of weeks, giving a relief to the navy, which is short of choppers.

Every ALH flown by the armed forces were grounded in January 2025 following two back to back fatal crashes of the Dhruv ALH of the Indian Coast Guard, killing six.

After last year’s Pahalgam attack, the Centre allowed the Indian Army and IAF to resume the ALH flights, but the navy and coast guard choppers remained grounded.

At the IFR, two ALH performed a search and rescue operation while three others flew in a formation during the fly past.

The IFR saw participation from 85 ships, including 19 foreign warships from 18 nations reflecting the scale and diversity of maritime participation.

The third international fleet review hosted by the Indian Navy is happening 10 years after the last one. This is also India’s biggest international fleet review, which is a ceremonial gathering of naval delegations, ships, submarines and aircraft from foreign countries.

The Indian fleet included 60 ships of the Indian Navy, four Indian Coast Guard vessels, and one ship each from the Shipping Corporation of India and the National Institute of Ocean Technology.

The review featured three Indian submarines, one French Atlantique maritime plane and two P8I patrol aircraft from India and USA, and participation by over 60 aircraft, underscoring the multi-domain operational capability and the coordinated maritime presence on display.

India’s latest Kalvari-class submarines, however, were not a part of the show. There were no US ships in the review but other two Quad members, Australia and Japan, sent their warships. A Russian ship was also a part of the review.

The participating foreign countries were Seychelles, Indonesia, Maldives, Thailand, Oman, Iran, South Korea, Australia, Japan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Philippines, UAE, Malaysia, South Africa, Bangladesh, Russia and Sri Lanka.

This is probably the first participation of Bangladesh in an official event in India after a new government has come in Dhaka.

Top officials from Bangladesh will also be present at Goa Maritime Conclave on Feb 21 where Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh Tripathi will host Chiefs of Navies, Heads of Maritime Forces, and senior representatives from 14 nations.