 |
India on Wednesday pinned an inspiring page to its chopper chapter when Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) successfully conducted the maiden test flight of the third technology demonstrator (TD-3) of the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH). Piloted by Wg Cdr Unni Pillai (Retd), HAL's Chief Test Pilot (CTP), Rotary Wing (RW) and ably assisted by Gp Capt Hari Nair (Retd), Deputy CTP (RW), the 20-minute maiden outing of LCH TD-3 was a flawless affair. The successful flight is a huge morale-booster to HAL, as the TD-3 project is being funded (Rs 80 crore) completely by the company, as part of the ‘bold strategy by the Board' to fast-track the programme. HAL has also set aside Rs 126 crore for LCH TD-4, which is expected to fly soon.
The LCH TD3's flight had its own share of suspense with the Bengaluru weather presenting a gloomy picture all through Tuesday. However, not-withstanding a light drizzle, the pilots took off the LCH TD3 from HAL's Helicopter Division and headed towards the Hoskote segment with a Dhruv chopper as the chase. The confidence of the pilots were evident when they did a low fly-past over the Helicopter Complex before touching down completing all flight parameters as prescribed during the pre-flight briefing session. "Every test point was done exactly with nothing unusual noticed during the flight. We are confident that the Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) will now be achieved in September 2015, three months ahead of the deadline," HAL Chairman R K Tyagi told OneIndia.
|
Thursday, November 13, 2014
India's Light Combat Helicopter via Military Aviation News.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(
Atom
)
If only US projects could go so perfectly.
ReplyDeleteHaha, didnt know our Airforce was being run like the Armored Corps with this chopper and the Apache just like the T90 and the Arjun.
ReplyDeleteno! there you are wrong Sarabvir! your air force is simply following the trend of every major force. the USMC uses the AH-1Z and the UH-1Y as heavy and light attack birds. the Japanese use the OH-1 and AH-64 in light and heavy roles. everyone does this except the US Army. they've decided to use only the Apache in both roles. more firepower, more cost over the long run.
DeleteIndia is simply following the trend of everyone else with the added benefit of having a homegrown design AND it being able to deliver more firepower than other helicopters in the same class.
this is a brilliant move. slam when necessary but praise when earned. this deserves praise.
hmm...then i need to dig in deeper and do better research about this chopper. Btw, I wasnt insulting the Armored Corps or the Airforce. I am a fan of both the T90 and Arjun. The T-90 is going to be our equivalent of Hannibal Barca's Alpine crossing Elephants. Except that this is the Himalayas.
DeleteSee you on the road to Lhasa.
oooh do i detect a hint of upcoming combat? i still believe that we're going to see a serious skirmish in the Himalayas.
Deletehaha....bragging aside....Serious combat ? Nope. One off skirmishes....maybe in a very very rare chance. In the end an India-China conflict is going to be too costly for China to let it develop into a conflict in the first place.I am aware of the amount of dialoge and the level at which these dialoges are taking place between our Militaries and Govt. functionaries posted on the border. Almost every brigade commander has a direct line to his chinese counterpart across the border. So when stray incidents of troop violations do happen, like the one you must have heard about a month back when an estimated 1000 chinese troops came across.....we know whether its more of a political stunt or a salami slicing type land grab or a full on assault.
DeleteIn anycase, I trust the Chinese to plan their own defeat even before any war starts simply by being the bullying jostling hustlers they are now.
The US knows this the best because of the stupendous amount of fighting they have done so no need to remind all that one must never underestimate the value of a Veteran Volunteer Soldier on a 20 year job as opposed to a conscription army even if they have better equipment. Thanks to Pakistan our boys are some of the best when it comes to high altitude fighting and combat engineering. Provided that the US holds off Pakistan from our backs and restrains them somehow, there are 400,000 of such veterans in just Jammu and kashmir. The majority of whom will only take 2-3 weeks to re-orient themselves towards China. This figure does not include still being raised the 17 Mountain Strike Corps. With these kind of numbers, we can trump up anything that the Chinese throw at us and cause them enough problems so that the rest of Asia with anti china feelings can start acting upon them. Taiwan, Japan, Phillipines, Vietnam etc.
If only the US gets this Paki monkey off our backs. But then i guess India itself will become too powerfull from the perspective of overall US strategic equations.
Dream on India passed any chance of matching china long ago , you had better education,trade conections,access to makets and know how and a large population to match but Chine just skyrocketed pas you while cultural limitations hold India back .
DeleteCultural Limitations ?....I hope you are not relating the real India to what you see on the Simpsons with that Appu character or Rajesh Kuthrapali on the Big Bang Theory.
DeleteWe can match China if the time frame is 2050. But if the time frame is 2020, then we dont need to match China economically just to defeat them Militarily. Just give us the above mentioned condition of holding Pakistan off and we have plenty of capability and money to do the rest. Even Taiwan does.
I'm more worried about "Scorch All Programs" Anthony. At least he's out, so you have a chance to go forward before someone stonewalls your projects again.
DeleteLuckily AK Antony is out. And even better, the top management presiding over AK Antony is also out and out for good. Our new Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar is a decent chap. He has upset a few Nigerians during his tenure as Chief Minister (Governer Equivalant) of Goa but on the whole the Defence Ministry is in capable hands.
DeleteUnfortunately, the damage is done. I know for one ST Kinetics isn't going to come back, the corruption accusations were a huge insult culturally to them, not to mention their government is hell on corruption. I won't be surprised if their Internal Security turned the whole company inside out. They're going to be terrified to do a Round 2. When you get the attention of someone who can arrest you just because he does not like how you look, you understand the old Chinese curse: May you draw the attention of the powerful.
DeleteAt least you got your homegrown field howitzers to take up the slack, but the ULH project is so dead. No more M-777s.
The Ultra Lightwight Howitzers project was doomed from the start. But while ULH is dead in its current state as a commercial bid, it is not dead as an operational requirment. Even as we speak the new bidding of the same is going to have much clearer terms and this time they wont be bought off the shelf from BAE or those Pegasus ones from Singapore. This time these companies are going to partner with Indian companies to make the whole damn thing in India under license. Make, not assemble out of export kits.
DeleteThe way Sikorsky has won the Naval Helicoptor bid just last week and now will now make the S70 here along with fuselage of the S92 for a total order of more than a 100....just for the Navy is something of an morale raiser for Private Defence Industries. TATA Advanced Systems Ltd. teamed up with Sikorsky for this bid i think more than 2 years back. Its borne fruit now.
If STK really gets the contract, I'll die laughing. They'll bring selling guns to the winners and losers to a new high. :)
DeletePakistan uses the Panther howitzer from Turkey, developed from the STK FH-2000, you guys use whatever was derived from the Pegasus, so if India and Pakistan were to go at it, whoever wins, will still have used a STK derived weapon.
I.e sold weapons to both the loser and the winner. lol
If they dare to, that is. IIRC, everyone who has a lightweight howitzer you can copy from are all blacklisted. They'll be scared of another competition that gets nowhere.
If you like weapons similarities then India and Pakistan and China is the place to be. Su-27/30 flown by both PLAAF and IAF. Kalashnikovs. Exocet missiles, Dassualt Shipyard submarines, the 2A46M 125MM Smoothbore cannon, Mi-17's etc.
DeleteYup, you're right. Rhinemetal and Denel and IMI were blacklisted.
1) That’s a lot of engine on such a small chopper. High-altitude adaptation?
ReplyDelete2) Are the tail rotor blades supposed to be bending that much? They're bending in multiple directions at once.
On the Tail rotors- its an ancient technique called the "Great Indian Rope Trick". The secret lies in that special beenie which one plays to make a snake or rope dance to your tunes.
DeleteIf it need to operate in Himalayas they yep, extra power is what you need.
DeleteMaybe only an optical illusion... but they indeed bend in weird way.
Did anyone else see this at first glance and think it was the RAH-66 Comanche or was that just me?
ReplyDeleteI was wondering why it looked so familiar...
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJKDId1_D8g
ReplyDeleteWatch this for full info on the chopper from the main man at HAL himself. This is what i could find in a short time. Will do some more research in the next couple of days. It is a couple of years old though.
start the video from 4.30 minutes onwards.
DeleteAnd this new camo pattern- http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/5808/images/146882/large/hal-lch.jpg
what it is with indian people on internet that always think their country can win a war or even a small skirmish against the chinese... i saw massive amount of that indian BS on every internet forum.. while most chinese forumers discuss chinese vs US or chinese VS japan , indian forumers always discussed Indian vs china with highly favorable (read fictional) result to indian military..
ReplyDeleteas for the chopper itself.. what kind of platform nightmare must be for indian maintenance pernel to be in a military with massive variety of platforms from different countries each wirh its own idiosyncrazy... i wouldnt bet on this helo considering the previous misadventures of indian aviation industry..
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWell, India and China have crossed swords before, and frankly, the results are about 50/50. I won't say it's either a Chinese or Indian sure win, but both sides really do stand a chance. It all depends on who f-cks up first and last.
DeleteThis kind of Helicoptor was created to remove the exact problem you have mentioned here Buntalanlucu. Multiple platforms. And to enforce some uniformity here. Though I dont think there was much diversity of should I say overlapping complicated platforms in our inventory to begin with. We only have 1 type of chopper in current service that can fit the role of a Attack Helicoptor and that is on the verge of retirement. Hence the LCH mentioned here. Plus majority of its components are French origin being licence manufactured here in India now. When I say Manufactured....i do not mean assembled out of Import Kits but actually being made here, especially the powerplant.
DeleteIts not just the "indian people on the internet" who think they can win a war or even a small skirmish against the chinese. Its the Indian Soldier who thinks that as well. And carries out his duties in an hostile enviromment knowing full well where he is comming from and what he is capable off. Something that is not only taken for granted but expected here.
Dont know which country you hail from so I cant give you a parallel example like you have given above about US Vs. China though I doubt that your countrymen dont indulge in a fair bit of patriotic banter as well.
Dont base your opinions off the Junk that usually passes off as a "Defence Oriented" blog in India. I know of one called "The Broadsword" run by an extremly informative and experienced ex-army Colonel Ajay Shukla who usually provides some nice insight but even his blog gets trolled a lot. If you want proper insight here than just search for his articles on the net and for publications like Business Standard and The Hindu.
And if you are feeling a tad lazy and personally dont want to put in a few solid hours of research then head on over here to Solomon's place we'll update you.
please, dont overstate your country's abilities compared to china.. against pakistan's military india maybe have a small chance of winning , but not against china... what it is with indian people and their victory disease infllicting not just noninformed people but also their military people... the japanese high command once have these kind of victory disease too, they certainly not amateurs , yet they underestimate the american effort and will in guadalcanal, and they paid the price for it..
Deletemind you , the same victory disease also infect chinese people thinking they can easily rolled US navy's carrier task force with ease... and also infect americans with their misadventures in vietnam that lead to a humiliating defeat and retreat..
bottom line, if your info about indian victory came from indian military , then it is can be easily written as a gung ho BS..
well, one must never waste his time on fools. Have a nice day buntalanlucu.
DeleteBunt, I already referenced historical events. I'd say the results were 50/50, neither side gained anything noteworthy.
DeleteYou're facing the same problem you are accusing the Indians of, though in the opposite direction, overselling China.
Technically though, the reason why China can't steamroller them with men is actually something to do with army structure. Most army structures are standardized, so you don't just throw X number of men into a conflict, you throw X Divisions or Army Corps, which means that in conflicts, most of the times, the numbers are fairly similar since most of the structures are similar.
As I already said, most likely it's down to who F-up first.