Armies are facing helicopter crisis, Dhruv flights banned; Chetak and Cheetah accidents have increased tension
After the repeated crashes of Cheetah and Chetak, the accidents of Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter have adversely affected the operations of the armies. The effect of this is that the army has to resort to civil helicopters in its operations. The flights have been banned since the accident of an Advanced Light Helicopter of the Coast Guard in Porbandar, Gujarat on January 5.
The Indian armies are struggling with a helicopter crisis these days. The armies have a high accident ratio for the Cheetah and Chetak helicopters. Now the armies' preparations have been negatively impacted by the grounding of nearly 330 Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH). Military operations and reconnaissance operations in forward positions have been impacted because of this.
The Army operates the largest number of Advanced Light Helicopters. The army has over 180 ALH helicopters at present. Of these, there are 60 Rudra helicopters that are equipped with arms. The US Army has 75, the Navy has 24, and the Coast Guard has 19 such aircraft.
These helicopters are manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL). They have been inducted into the army since 2002.
According to a Times of India report, the armed forces on the China and Pakistan border are heavily dependent on these helicopters for search, vigilance, reconnaissance missions and rescue operations. But for the last three months, these operations have been severely disrupted.
This is affecting the pilots of the Advanced Light Helicopter. They now have to practice only on simulators.
On January 5 this year, a Coast Guard helicopter crashed in Porbandar, Gujarat. Two pilots and an aircrew diver lost their lives in this accident. After this, all Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters were grounded.
Initial investigation revealed that the accident occurred due to 'swashplate fracture' in the helicopter. Officials say that similar problems can be seen in other ALHs as well. Due to this, they have been grounded.
On the other hand, HAL is also taking the help of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in the investigation. It is expected that the institute will submit its report by the end of April.
The army is facing a shortage of helicopters. Meanwhile, an officer said that the ray of hope is that the army is using some civil helicopters to transport troops and supply logistics to high-altitude posts on the northern and western borders.
The officer further said that the Northern and Central Command of the Army started using civil helicopters last November. If this was not done, it would have been extremely difficult to deliver supplies to the soldiers deployed on the front line.
