HAL Prachand - Light Combat Helicopter (LCH)

[Vijyes]

Sorry for my question. I found that there is a separate thread itself for my question in this forum itself. If anyone has similar questions, please refer to this thread:

http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/...e-attack-helicopter-or-is-rudra-better.55186/

 

[Srinivas_K]

Can someone please explain to me if LCH is merely ALH Mk2? They look quite similar at least and the specifications are also close

ALH is a transport helicopter, Rudra is a weaponised version of ALH.

LCH is a dedicated attack helicopter, both are different designs.

 

[Saichand K]

LCH,three prototypes together, isn't it cool? By the way what can be It's official name?View attachment 19257

Gharial will be cool no.... isn't it???

 

[Shashwat]

^^ Trishul? It was even depicted in one of the PTs

 

[Prashant12]

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[Saichand K]

^^ Trishul? It was even depicted in one of the PTs

Typically all attack helicopters, even russian is called based on crocodile names. Since its a light attack helicopter, we need not call it makar but call it gharial. trishul, ghatak is used in all weapon systems.

 

[cannonfodder]

Noob question: Ajay Shukla in his blogspot says no radar in LCH yet.

1. Can anyone elaborate what radar is effective for attack helicopters?
2. How much progress have we made etc?

Reference: http://ajaishukla.blogspot.com/2017/08/jaitley-inaugurates-light-combat.html
Apologize if answered previously.

This is less than half the cost of the AH-64E Apache attack helicopters the Indian Air Force (IAF) has bought from Boeing, USA. The Apache is more heavily armed and armoured and has the sophisticated Longbow fire control radar. The LCH does not yet have radar, but HAL intends to develops one before mass production begins.

 

[Vijyes]

Noob question: Ajay Shukla in his blogspot says no radar in LCH yet.

1. Can anyone elaborate what radar is effective for attack helicopters?
2. How much progress have we made etc?

Reference: http://ajaishukla.blogspot.com/2017/08/jaitley-inaugurates-light-combat.html
Apologize if answered previously.

Without fire control radar, even a tqnk can't fire missiles. If LCH can fire missiles, it has fire control radar. Fire control radar is used to target, then arm rockets and missiles to fire and then fire.

Fire control radars are not necessarily active scanned arrays or some complex radars. The range of helina is just 5-8km. There is no point of complex radars with range more than 10km

 

[Armand2REP]

Noob question: Ajay Shukla in his blogspot says no radar in LCH yet.

1. Can anyone elaborate what radar is effective for attack helicopters?
2. How much progress have we made etc?

Reference: http://ajaishukla.blogspot.com/2017/08/jaitley-inaugurates-light-combat.html
Apologize if answered previously.

Millimetric radar masts add much weight. LCH has been designed to strip as much extra weight as it can due to the high altitudes it must operate. Attack helos in this weight class will do just fine with a good optics package. It is more important to perfect the seeker of the missile and get weight down.

 

[Prashant12]

India's LCH to conduct live firings of Mistral end 2017 at Chandipur. LCH to sport 4 Mistrals on each wing, as opposed to 2 on Rudra.


The Indian developed LCH will be able to carry eight Mistral anti air missiles, first tests at Chandipore by year end.

 

[Superdefender]

I shall appreciate if LCH and Z-10 are compared to find out better one.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

If any other can be compared with LCH which comes close to what LCH is design for is AH-1W SuperCobra, Z-10 and others don`t follow the same design philosophy as LCH ..

Though, this thread is not for comparison sake debates ..

I shall appreciate if LCH and Z-10 are compared to find out better one.

 

[Chinmoy]

Noob question: Ajay Shukla in his blogspot says no radar in LCH yet.

1. Can anyone elaborate what radar is effective for attack helicopters?
2. How much progress have we made etc?

Reference: http://ajaishukla.blogspot.com/2017/08/jaitley-inaugurates-light-combat.html
Apologize if answered previously.

Its true. Now Apache does have a very effective MmW RADAR for target tracking. But as @Armand2REP already mentioned, we can't have something like that in LCH due to weight penalty and the altitude at which it is built to operate. The best way out is to have state of art optics for target tracking and seeker for the missile part.

 

[cannonfodder]

Experts can we see some prototypes of LCH equipped with radar for western region in future( i.e. where LCH is not expected to operate at high altitudes).

Its true. Now Apache does have a very effective MmW RADAR for target tracking. But as @Armand2REP already mentioned, we can't have something like that in LCH due to weight penalty and the altitude at which it is built to operate. The best way out is to have state of art optics for target tracking and seeker for the missile part.

 

[Vijyes]

Experts can we see some prototypes of LCH equipped with radar for western region in future( i.e. where LCH is not expected to operate at high altitudes).

Can you please help me understand the need for a radar in a helicopter? Why not use a drone or an aircraft? What kind of radar is used in a helicopter and why?

 

[vishnugupt]

Can you please help me understand the need for a radar in a helicopter? Why not use a drone or an aircraft? What kind of radar is used in a helicopter and why?

for better missile guidance, like all weather

 

[singh100ful]

Experts can we see some prototypes of LCH equipped with radar for western region in future( i.e. where LCH is not expected to operate at high altitudes).

Not untill the army requests for it.

 

[singh100ful]

for better missile guidance, like all weather

LCH will be equipped with mssiles of 7km range (HELINA), so the optics would do the job.
If the army wants more range of the missile then the need arises for the airborne radar for ground moving target detection/tracking with a new missile with MMW seeker

 

[Vijyes]

Wouldn't it be better to have a drone with radar than a helicopter. Helicopter generally works in low heights from the ground. It has 20mm canons for a reason. If it flies too high, canon will be useless

 

[Chinmoy]

Guys, RADAR is not just used for targeting purpose, it is also used for tracking purpose. Added advantage of a RADAR is the 360 degree situational awareness of the battle field the pilot and weapon officer of a copter do have. For example Apache MmW RADAR could detect around 80 odds target in a battlefield, and could target any 4 to 6 of them. But along with its RADAR, its optics based targeting pod does job of targeting.

Now on high altitude of Himalayan ranges, RADAR would not work in its full potential of tracking and targeting. So optics based tracking and targeting would do the job just fine for LCH. But may be in future we could see a heli based RADAR in later version of LCH (ACH) for our western sector.