India likely to purchase high altitude helicopter from abroad

Washington, Nov 20: After a prototype of its advanced light helicopter (ALH) failed thrust and vibration tests, the Indian army is considering purchasing choppers from abroad for high-altitude use.
"The army is very concerned over the performance of the prototype built at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bangalore. Since the need for helicopters is immediate the army may look outside India," Defense News reported on Monday quoting an Indian army source.

"The Indian army is already overrunning its existing helicopters to ferry troops and equipment to the higher reaches of the Kashmir valley. We will ask the Indian ministry of defence to make available, at least 30 helicopters immediately to operate in the higher reaches because of the delay in the ALH project," the report said.

Expected to cost around 4.5 million dollars each, the ALH was intended to fulfil the requirement of 300 combat and transport helicopters during the next ten years. Two thirds of these were to go to the army and the remaining to the navy. Production of the ALH was slated to begin in 1998 but has now been pushed to 2005, a senior Indian defence ministry official told Defense News. The helicopter built at HAL reportedly failed the endurance test - hovering only three minutes instead of the expected ten minutes. However, ALH programme director is quoted as saying that HAL has installed new facilities for endurance testing for the ALH and the results have been successful. The engine that powered the ALH when it was found to "shake excessively," was the french Turbomeca 333 2B2, the Defense News said.

Programme director Ashok Baweja told Defense News that HAL and Turbomeca, Bordes, France, are developing a higher-powered engine called Shakti, in Bangalore, which will be rolled out in 2006. Conceived in 1970, the ALH programme ran into trouble after the US imposed sanctions on India.

The sanctions barred the original engine supplier -- Light Helicopter Turbine Engine Company (LHTEC), of Phoenix, Arizona (USA) -- from supplying the project with its CTS-800 engines. The first prototype of ALH flew in 1992, a naval version in 1995, and an army version in October 2000. The army, navy and air force will require 300 combat and transport helicopters in the next few years.

— PTI