Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), India,s First LCH To Fly First Time
- Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), India,s First LCH To Fly First Time
As the helicopter taxied slowly along the airstrip, a little knot of designers and executives from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) watched silently, the sweat beads on their foreheads from more than just the Bangalore heat.
March 29 had been selected for a landmark attempt: The first flight of the indigenous Light Combat Helicopter (LCH). Already a year late, and facing criticism for having gone several hundred kilograms overweight, the LCH had much to prove.
At 3.30 pm, the twin Shakti engines roared to a crescendo and the LCH pilots, Group Captains Unni Pillai and Hari Nair, lifted off the ground. The futuristic helicopter, all angles and armoured sheets, flew for a distance just a few feet above the runway; then cheering and clapping broke out as it climbed to 50 feet.
Over the next 15 minutes, Pillai and Nair put the LCH through its first flight test, doing a clockwise and then an anti-clockwise turn, hovering motionless and circling the airport four times.
In high-altitude performance, the LCH will be in aclass by itself: Taking off from Himalayan altitudes of 10,000 feet, operating rockets and guns up to 16,300 feet, and launching missiles at UAVs flying at over 21,000 feet.
At 3.30 pm, the twin Shakti engines roared to a crescendo and the LCH pilots, Group Captains Unni Pillai and Hari Nair, lifted off the ground.
Over the next 15 minutes, Pillai and Nair put the LCH through its first flight test, doing a clockwise and then an anti-clockwise turn, hovering motionless and circling the airport four times.
“It is a big day for all of us, especially those involved in the LCH’s design and fabrication,” Ashok Nayak, chairman and managing director of HAL, told Business Standard .
“We were going to have the first LCH flight in December but, for one reason or another, it kept getting delayed.” A feared predator in the modern battlefield, the attack helicopter is a key weapon system against enemy tanks.
India’s Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO) is developing an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) for the LCH.
Based on the already developed Nag ATGM, the HELINA (or Helicopter-mounted Nag) missile can destroy tanks from a distance of seven kilometres.
A feared predator in the modern battlefield, the attack helicopter is a key weapon system against enemy tanks, flying just 20-30 feet high to avoid radar detection.
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