HAL rolls out 300th Advanced Light Helicopter

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) rolled out its 300th Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH-Dhruv) here on Tuesday.

Speaking on the occasion, R Madhavan, Chairman and Managing Director of HAL said that the ALH had never looked back from the day when the prototype took its maiden flight on August 30, 1992. He described the machine as having evolved into a world class helicopter with its unparalleled performance. “The evolution from ALH Mark I to Mark IV has been phenomenal and is a boost to the indigenous design and development of helicopters,” he added.

The Roll-out certificate of the 300th helicopter was handed over to G V S Bhaskar, Chief Executive Officer, Helicopter Complex by Y K Sharma, Additional Director General (South Zone), Directorate General of Aeronautical Quality Assurance (DGAQA) at a programme held at HAL’s Helicopter Division.

“With more ALH getting inducted into the services our focus on customer support is ever increasing. With over 2,80,000 flying hours, ALH has proven to be a multirole helicopter for ‘Any Mission, Any Place, Any Time’,” Bhaskar said.

Currently, HAL is producing 73 ALHs contracted for Army (41), Indian Navy (16) and Indian Coast Guard (16). Out of this, 38 ALHs have already been produced and the remaining will be completed by 2022.

LCH Ground Run

As part of this occasion, the first Limited Series Production (LSP) of the Light Combat Helicopter-Limited Series Production (LCH-LSP) was put through a “Ground Run.”

HAL said that project has been taken up by the Company proactively while the order from Services on HAL is in process. The LCH was piloted by Group Captain (Retd) Hari Krishnan Nair S, Chief Test Pilot and Group Captain (Retd) C G Narasimha Prasad, Senior Flight Test Engineer of Flight Operations, Rotary Wing.