HAL developed light utility helicopter lands in Ladakh

The successful flight makes the helicopter worthy to operate in Siachen

The helicopter embarked on a 3000km flight from Bengaluru to Leh over a period of three days traversing many civil and military airfields. The helicopter embarked on a 3000km flight from Bengaluru to Leh over a period of three days traversing many civil and military airfields.

Indigenously designed and developed Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) successfully landed at Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO), the highest-landing ground in northern Ladakh at an altitude of 16,890 feet, close to the Xinjiang autonomous territory in the northwest of China.

Light Utility Helicopter, manufactured by HAL, demonstrated high altitude capability in hot and high weather conditions in the Himalayas as part of its trials.  The trials were carried out by the test pilots from HAL, IAF and Army from August 24 to September 2, according to the HAL.

R. Madhavan, chief of HAL, says, "LUH has complied with all the requirements of the users and with the completion of hot and high altitude testing, it is close to operational clearance certification."

Officials claim that the successful flight makes the helicopter worthy to operate in Siachen, the world's highest battlefield. The Army has been desperately looking to replace its ageing fleet of Cheetah and Chetak helicopters, which have been operating as lifeline for soldiers, deployed in far- flung areas of high altitude locations. The Army will procure 126 LUHs while the IAF has plans to procure 61 choppers from HAL.

A comprehensive test plan was executed at Leh (3,300m) in temperatures upto International Standard Atmosphere  +32 degree C which included envelope expansion, performance and flying qualities.

According to a statement by HAL, LUH then lifted off from Leh and demonstrated its hot and high hover performance at DBO Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) at 5,000m followed by another forward helipad.  

"While these extreme weather conditions imposed flight restrictions on all other civil and military aircraft, LUH flights were unhindered as it is designed for such operations," HAL said in its statement.

HAL further stated that the helicopter embarked on a 3,000km flight from Bengaluru to Leh over a period of three days traversing many civil and military airfields. During the course of ferrying and trials at high altitude, the chopper revealed high reliability without any service support. 

The LUH completed hot weather trials at Nagpur in 2018 and cold weather trials at Leh in 2019. Sea level trials were completed in Chennai last year and in Puducherry early this year.