A senior Indian Coast Guard (ICG) official has called for design re-evaluations of the Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv after one of the military choppers of the ICG crashed in Gujarat on January 5, killing three.
ICG Inspector General and Regional Commander (West) Bhisham Sharma said ALH has been in the service for the past 20 years and the CICG has the Mark III version of the indigenous helicopters called Dhruv.
“We have undertaken extensive flying operations. I have myself taken a ferry (helicopter ride) from Agatti to Minicoy and from Minicoy to Kavaratti (in Lakshadweep) again. It is a wonderful machine but few incidents certainly call for some design re-evaluations," he told reporters in Mumbai recently.
He said Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, the ALH manufacturer, is working on it.
Two pilots and an aircrew diver of an ALH of the ICG were killed when the chopper crashed and caught fire at Gujarat's Porbandar airport on January 5. Following the accident, the armed forces grounded the entire fleet of the twin-engine helicopters.
The indigenously designed and developed ALH was not part of the Republic Day flypast this year as the entire fleet of military choppers has been grounded following the fatal crash.
The Army, the Indian Air Force, the Navy and the Coast Guard operate around 330 ALHs.
