India's indigenous Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) has been cleared for weapon trials, following completion of 5 year long performance...
India's indigenous Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) has been cleared for weapon trials, following completion of 5 year long performance trials.
LCH has completed performance flight trials which involved not only development testing at Bangalore but also trials at extreme environment conditions such as Sea Level at Chennai, Cold weather at Leh, Hot weather at Jodhpur and Hot & high altitude tests at Leh.
With the finalization of basic configuration, HAL will start production of LCH after achieving initial operational clearance (IOC), which is expected shortly.
HAL successfully carried out the hot and the high-altitude trials flight trials at Leh have established hover performance and low speed handling characteristics of the helicopter under extreme weather conditions at different altitudes (3200 to 4800 m), with a reasonable payload.
The 5.5 tonne class attack helicopter is based on the multi-role Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv, developed by HAL. It has a Max. speed: 265 Kmph, range of 550 Km. It is powered by two license built Turbomeca Ardiden 1H/Shakti turboshaft engine rated at 895 kW each.
LCH with a narrow fuselage have pilot and co-pilot/gunner in tandem configuration incorporating a number of stealth features, Armour protection, Night attack capability and crash worthy landing gear for better survivability.
Major features include,glass cockpit, crash worthy under floor structure, crash worthy fixed tricycle type with tail wheel landing gear, canted flat panels for low Radar Cross Section, Hinge less Main Rotor / Bearing less Tail Rotor, Anti Resonance isolation system, Integrated Avionics and Display System (IADS), IR Suppressor.
The attack helicopter is custom built for the Indian armed force requirement for operation in cold high altitude regions, like in the Siachen region bordering Pakistan and has the world's highest service ceiling of 6.5 km. It can be armed with 20mm Gun, Rocket & Missiles.
