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Indian aviation fraternity in general and HAL in
particular is eager to witness another milestone event, when Hon’ble
Defence Minister Shri A.K Antony will dedicate the Light Combat
Helicopter (LCH) to the nation on coming Sunday at HAL Airport.
Indigenously developed and built by HAL in a record time, a
derivative of Advanced Light Helicopter (Dhruv) is an attack
helicopter first of its kind in India.
History
It became imminent for the MOD and Indian Air Force that the
technologies acquired and developed on the Dhruv platform could be
translated into developing a dedicated Light combat helicopter
appended with newer technologies like low visibility features,
Nuclear Biological and Chemical warfare protection, integration of
the latest weapon systems, and electronic warfare suite. The HAL
Fraternity expresses its gratitude to the nation, MOD and the Indian
Air force for giving it yet another great opportunity in realizing
this dream.
Technicality
The LCH inherits many technical features of the Dhruv which includes
the rotor system Transmission, power plant, Hydraulics, IADS,
weapons system and Avionics. The features that are unique to LCH are
Sleek & narrow fuselage, tri-cycle crashworthy landing gear, tandem
cockpits, crashworthy & self sealing fuel tanks, aero foil shaped
stub wings for weapons, armour protection, NBC protection and, low
visibility features Which make the LCH lethal, agile and survivable.
Development philosophy
LCH prototype development was based on the concept of design, ground
testing and fabrication concurrently. This resulted in building the
1st machine within 40 months.
The design & manufacturing was carried-out using the state-of-art
C.A.D/C.A.M facilities which obviated the requirement of an
interface check rig. The ground testing included wind-tunnel
testing, landing gear drop tests, and shake test.
A mock up was also built for evaluation by the Indian Air Force.
Development Team
The development team included members of HAL, Indian Air Force, the
certification authorities CEMILAC ,DGAQA and the various suppliers
of the onboard systems.
Capability and Performance
LCH will be fitted with a 20 mm Turret gun and can carry Rockets,
Air-to Air / Air-to-Ground missiles on the weapon stations.
The helicopter would have day/night targeting systems for the crew
including the Helmet pointed sight and Electro-optical pod
consisting of CCD camera/FLIR/Laser range finder/laser designator.
The LRF & LD facilitate measurement of range to the target &
guidance to the Laser guided Missiles respectively. A Digital Video
Recorder would enable recording of the vital mission for debriefing
purposes. The turret gun skewing is controlled by the helmet mounted
sight of the gunner.
The LCH is fitted with Self Protection Suite consisting of
Radar/Laser Missile warning systems and Countermeasures dispensing
system. It is also planned to integrate IR/Laser missile jammer on
the helicopter.
The helicopter would be fitted with a Data Link for Network-centric
operations facilitating transfer of the mission data to the other
airborne platforms and ground stations operating in the Network,
thus facilitating force multiplication.
The machine is designed for low detection (visual, aural, radar &
infra-red) and includes armour protection of critical areas. A 30
minute dry running capability of the gear box is a built in feature
to survive after a ballistic hit to the transmission system.
Crashworthiness features are built into the wheel landing gear &
structure.
Dual redundant systems also enhance the effectiveness of the
helicopter in the battlefield environment.
The performance features of the LCH i.e. rate of climb, cruise
speed, service ceiling are on par, if not better than other
helicopter in its class like A129/Tiger and with bigger dedicated
combat helicopters like Apache, Kamov 30 or Mi-35. LCH has all the
makings of a winner in its class of helicopters.
Cost data ( Development cost, unit cost, maintenance cost &
operating cost)
The development cost of LCH is very low compared to that of other
helicopters in its class, ensuring lower unit costs compared to
other attack helicopters. LCH design is optimized to ensure ease of
maintenance with improved reliability of all the onboard systems to
keep the operating costs low.
Conclusion
Self-reliance in such strategic machines forms an unequivocal
requirement for India’s defence and products like the Dhruv & the
LCH are missions in this direction. May the Light Combat Helicopter
serve the nation for decades to come.
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