HAL’s light combat chopper clears Siachen test

Tribune News Service 

Bengaluru, September 9

The Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) being developed by the Bengaluru-headquartered defence public sector undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has proven its capability to land and take off at forward landing bases in Siachen.

“LCH is the first attack helicopter to land in forward bases at Siachen,” T Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL, has been quoted as saying.

A press statement from HAL stated that the hot and high-altitude trials of the locally designed-and-developed attack chopper LCH were carried out at Leh recently. 

“The seasonal trials are part of the certification process. The flight trials at Leh have established hover performance and low speed handling characteristics of the helicopter under extreme weather conditions at different altitudes (3,200-4,800m),” Raju said.

The trials were carried out with the third prototype of LCH (TD3) at Leh at temperatures ranging from 13 to 27°C. The tests included assessment and validation of flight envelope in ‘hot-and-high’ conditions culminating in landing at forward bases at elevations of 13,600-15,800 ft.

The landings and take-offs were carried out with reasonable amount of weapon load and fuel.

The area where these trials were carried out has several lofty peaks of over 25,000 ft and an average ridge line elevation of 20,000 ft. It is also home to the largest glaciated area outside the polar regions. The area experiences a period of summer during July-August when temperatures soar to 30 degrees above standard atmosphere conditions.