The Indian air force operates about 500 military rotorcraft, predominantly Russian Mi-17 V5/Mi-17-IV/Mi-17 variants and a few squadrons of venerable Mi-8s, in addition to about a dozen Mi-25/Mi-35 attack helicopters.
Incredibly, the air force and other services continue to operate substantial numbers of obsolescent Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) Cheetah and Chetak helicopters; licence-built examples of the Aérospatiale SA315B Lama (Cheetah) and SA316 Alouette III (Chetak).
The army and air force also operate an upgraded version of the Cheetah, called Cheetal, which can operate at altitudes as high as 23,000ft and is powered by a 1,100shp (820kW) Safran Helicopter Engines TM333-2M2 turboshaft.
The air force and army together still have about 280 Cheetah and Chetak helicopters in service, although serviceability rates are thought to be poor and there are growing safety concerns.
By 2020, the air force will have started induction of five new rotorcraft types; the indigenous HAL Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) and Light Utility Helicopter (LUH), Russian Ka-226 T and American Boeing AH-64 E Apache attack helicopters, and CH-47 F (I) Chinook heavy lifters.
More than 500 new rotorcraft will be inducted into the air force alone over the next 10 years.
Light Helicopters
The Kamov Ka-226T Sergei light helicopter emerged as the winner in 2015 of a tortuous procurement process for a new reconnaissance and surveillance helicopter (RSH) type that would replace the outdated Cheetah and Chetak fleets, and 200 Ka-226s (65 air force, 135 army) have now been contracted for. Of those, 140 will be produced under licence by HAL and 60 will be acquired in fly-away condition from Russian Helicopters.
First delivery dates for examples produced under licence are likely to slip because of delays in setting up infrastructure and the finalisation of aircraft specifications. It also now appears that a new engine production facility will be required for the Ka-226T’s Safran Arrius 2G1 engines, as HAL’s existing partnership with Safran to produce TM333-2B2 and Ardiden 1H1 Shakti engines in Bengaluru is already at full capacity.
The LUH is a new 3t single-engined helicopter designed and developed by HAL to meet the RSH requirement. The LUH made its maiden flight in September 2016 and developmental testing is under way.
Series production of the LUH is slated to begin in 2018, at a new manufacturing facility to be built at Tumkur, about 150km (90 miles) from Bengaluru. A production run of 187 LUH rotorcraft has been approved.
Hindustan Aeronautics' light combat helicopter is one of five new types slated to enter air force operation by the end of this decade
Hindustan Aeronautics
The LUH is powered by a Safran HE Ardiden-1U engine developing 750kW. The Ardiden 1U was selected in 2014 and engine certification is planned for 2018. The engine is a derivative of the Ardiden 1H1, which was co-developed by Safran and HAL and is known lokally as the Shakti.
The LUH, design and development of which started in early 2009, has a maximum all-up-weight (AUW) of 3,150kg and a range of 350km. It will carry six passengers and two pilots.
Deliveries of HAL’s Dhruv, a 5t-class helicopter, to the armed forces continues and all 159 on order will be delivered by 2018. Additional orders are likely to keep the production line running into the 2020s. HAL is now building 24 helicopters a year. Dhruv MkIII examples now being delivered are available with an Israeli-built forward-looking infrared (FLIR) pod.
At present the most advanced variant is the Dhruv Mk IV Weapon System Integrated (WSI), also known as Rudra. HAL has plans to develop a MkV which will be an update of the MkIII utility variant with improvements to the main gearbox, updated avionics and improved aerodynamics.
Another aspect that has emerged with the indigenous helicopters such as Dhruv, Rudra and LCH is that the Indian armed forces have now firmly incorporated simulators into their training philosophies for these helicopters.
Simulator training is now being undertaken by all military and paramilitary users of Dhruv.
“We are planning to induct the Rudra WSI cockpit for training in 2018 and we will be bidding for the LCH and LUH simulators,” says Wg Cdr (retd) Krishna, the chief executive of Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF), a joint venture between HAL and CAE of Canada. In the 2016 fiscal year the Dhruv (conventional) Level D simulator at HATSOFF was used for 2,200h.
The air force’s medium helicopter fleet consists solely of the rugged Russian Mi-8/Mi-17 series, which has proven highly successful in India and continues to garner orders.
The service has procured 139 units of the new Mi-17 V5, worth $2.4 billion across two batches ordered in 2008 and 2012, for 80 and 59 examples, respectively. Deliveries were completed in September 2015 and the air force is expected to finalise an additional 48 helicopters worth just over $1 billion this year.
A mid-life upgrade for 90 Mi-17 series helicopters has also been proposed by the air force.
The first Mi-8s were inducted between 1971 and 1980, and a few more were added between 1981 and 1990. The Mi-17s entered service from 1984 to 1989 and the Mi-17-IVs between 2000 and 2003.
The LCH is a tandem-seat attack helicopter being designed to stringent air force and army requirements for a high-altitude attack helicopter, and makes extensive use of the experience gained from the Dhruv MkIII and MkIV variants.
“We have proved the basic airframe and we already have the experience of weapons integration which we performed on the Rudra,” says HAL chairman Suvarna Raju. “Now we have declared that the LCH is ready for induction depending on the weapons selection by the individual customer.” The LCH has been designed to operate at 10,000-12,000ft with an armaments load on its weapon stub wing/armament boom.
Commenting on the completion of weapons integration, which also requires the finalisation of the armament load by the user, Raju says: “Instead of waiting for weapons integration and declaration of initial operational capability [IOC], which is specific to Indian services, we went ahead and proved the basic platform at different altitudes and have completed hot and cold weather trials.”
The two weapon stations on either side of the LCH can carry anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), rockets or air-to-air missiles. An MBDA spokesman tells FlightGlobal: “The Mistral ATAM launcher has already been integrated on the Rudra and successful test firings have been carried out. Integration on the LCH is under way and progressing as per schedule.”
The LCH is also fitted with a slewable electro-optical sighting system, helmet pointing system, radar/laser missile warning system and countermeasures dispensing system (CMDS). A Nexter THL20 turret gun is also standard on all LCHs.
The air force will also receive its first American rotorcraft in nearly 70 years, when it inducts AH-64E attack helicopters and CH-47 F (I) heavy lift helicopters in 2019. In the late 1950s and early 1960s the air force inducted small numbers of the iconic Bell 47G.
Deliveries of the first examples of 22 Boeing AH-64Es and 15 CH-47 F (I) rotorcraft are slated for July 2019 and March 2019, respectively; more than a decade after the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for the acquisition was approved by the defence ministry.
The contract for both types was concluded in September 2015 and the Apaches are being acquired via the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme, while the Chinooks are coming from Boeing as direct commercial sales (DCS).
The air force still operates two squadrons of ageing Mi-24 and Mi-35 attack helicopters which are to be retired by the end of the decade and replaced by the Apaches.
The Chinooks will replace Mi-26 heavy-lift helicopters, only a handful of which were inducted, starting in 1985. Only a single Mi-26 is now thought to be operational.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
