HAL Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv

[venkat]

Joe!!! its well known that ALH does have problems.Have you seen an egg getting hatched instantly? Design, Developement and mass production of any product and getting matured is an evalutionary process. What do you say about the Typhoon accident in Spain in which a Saudi pilot got killed ,while ejecting!!! A few days later Germany has grounded all its Typhoons ,citing a major problem with the Ejection seat!!! Toyota had to recall a particular model car from all over the world , as it had serious problems!!!! How about the Nokia BL5C battery explosion fiasco,which created a panic among the users? Same is the case with ALH!!! If the customer is quality conscious, The IAF, Army should chase the maker of ALH, till all the problems are resolved!!!

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Indian Army Aviation`s Dhruv

Ecuador`s Dhruv

Nepalese Army Aviation`s Dhruv

Mauritius`s Dhruv

Indian Navy`s Dhruv

Indian Coast Guard`s Dhruv

Many More.......

 

[Parthy]

Dhruv is doing all the work from rescuing patients to ferrying troops and supplies in J&k..
And Army is 100% satisfied with Dhruv..

The actual problem with Dhruv is "it tends to create metal chips with the oil while up and running. This means that the bird got only 10-15 mins time left to run into serious problems. And that is the reason they've employed the Italian consultant to identify if it is a problem with assembly in HAL or with the IDS provided by them"

This was there on the on a report I read when this problem surfaced... am googling for that report now.. :emot0:

 

[Sridhar]

'Helicopters Currently Make Up Five to Six Per Cent of HAL's Total Business; this is Expected to Grow to 20–25 Per Cent Over the Next 12 Years'
Managing Director, Helicopter Complex, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, P. Soundara Rajan

What is the current order book for the ALH from the Indian armed forces and other customers? How many ALH helicopters are flying currently?

We have firm orders from the Indian armed forces for 159 helicopters. We have requirements coming up from the other customers but we have now taken the conscious decision to set the ball rolling in large numbers for the armed forces first, before we look at other potential customers. There are 10 helicopters, five for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and five for the Indian Army that are currently undergoing test flights by our pilots. The process of delivering these helicopters is expected to start very shortly. This variant has a full glass cockpit, Shakti engine and all the EW sensors along with a GPWS and automatic flight control system that was there earlier as well.

There are close to 100 ALH helicopters that are flying, with the majority in India and a small number abroad. Around 20 Dhruvs are flying for non defence customers both in India and abroad. ALH is flying in Ecuador, Mauritius, Maldives and Nepal. The Border Security Force (BSF) is also using the ALH. There is absolutely no doubt that the 'Dhruv' is a feather in HAL's cap and is one of the best helicopters in terms of pilot feel and handling qualities.
We will start exploiting the market, once I stabilise my delivery to the Indian armed forces. This should happen latest by next year. We see homeland security and policing as an area where HAL will be looking closely for Dhruv. Casualty and Medical Evacuation (CasEvac) in the civilian variant is another area we will be looking at. We can also offer the utility and weaponised versions to customers abroad. We also have a huge domestic market that needs to be addressed.

Can you comment on the value of components of the Dhruv which are imported?
There are a lot of misconceptions regarding indigenisation and imports. There is tremendous value addition that is being done in the Dhruv programme. Structures for the Dhruv are made from composites. Now while the raw material comes from abroad, everything else, from tailoring of the raw material when it comes to design of a component, development of a component, qualification and testing of the component and finally manufacturing of the component, is all done entirely in India. The value addition to the basic raw materials we are getting is anywhere between 45 to 65 per cent. If you look at the percentage of the number of components that are made in this country then 85 to 90 per cent of the Dhruv is made in India.

In terms of equipment in the last 20 to 30 years, the learning's which we have achieved through license manufacture is so good, that today, the entire avionics fit on most helicopters and aircraft operated by the Indian armed forces is developed and manufactured here. The ALH has 4,700 structural components alone, leaving aside connectors, components, equipments, wiring etc. For each of these components a make or buy decision has to be made.

We would like to get everything made within this country for Dhruv, provided it is economically viable, access to critical technologies is made available and it makes good business sense, in terms of volumes. If you look at India today, the raw materials required for aerospace component manufacturing is just not available here. At the moment, the bulk of the raw materials either metallic or non metallic are imported from abroad. If you look at raw materials per se, 80 per cent of the Dhruv is imported, that is simply because the basic aircraft quality raw materials are not available here. The questions which then arise here are should these materials be sourced from India, moreover, when these materials are readily available abroad and the volumes do not justify setting up raw material manufacturing facilities in India.



FORCE - A Complete News Magazine on National Security - Defence Magazine

 

[Kunal Biswas]

A rare Pic of HAL Dhruv commencing Commando operation at high altitudes in J&K..

This pic is a tight slap for those media dums who argue Dhruv is faulty and IA is not satisfied with it...

 

[maomao]

^^^^ Media is completely corporatist and corrupt, they would write anything for their masters and corporations (foreign)who are funding them, so that these corporates can sell their junk and indigenous programs are not taken forward. It has been time and again proved that immature, dysfunctional and obtuse media-men are given projects to malign Indian efforts so that these MNC's are able to sell material with zillion restrictions to India and they make a cheap buck, however this does not stop here; up-gradations or new area of opportunity is taken as a chance for bashing DRDO/HAL again to justify foreign purchases. This media blitzkrieg is only to sell foreign products and destroy indigenous defense industry, nothing more can be expected from cheap media of India.

 

[pmaitra]

Most new products are bound to have problems and they are to be sorted out. Sometimes, pressing demands force the users to use them despite their flaws.

For example, Bell UH-1 "Huey" and Piasecki H-21 "Flying Banana" we vulnerable to ground fire even from small arms (particularly the latter), yet, these machines were always modified to suit the particular requirements. The Mi-24 "Krokodil/Hind" solved the problem of small arms fire and made it into a virtual flying tank from which even RPG rounds would bounce off without causing any significant damage, yet it had it's weakness in high thermal signature and often were used a pure gunships in high altitude warfare (Afghanistan), although these helicopters were not designed to be gunships, but as gunship-cum-troop-transport helicopters. modifications were also done to reduce the heat signature in the Hinds. Similarly, the HAL ALH "Dhurv" will obviously have had some initial problems but they have been or are in the process of being sorted out (like taking help from Turbomeca).

 

[RPK]

 

[Patriot]

90 percent of Components for HAL Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv Sourced Internally

Around 69 percent of the material used in manufacture of Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) is procured from foreign sources. In terms of number of components involved, around 90 percent of the components are made in India.

The development and production of ALH has benefited the country immensely by providing a versatile domestic helicopter and enhancing our knowledge base in designing, developing and manufacturing a rotary wing aircraft of this category.

This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Shri MM Pallam Raju in a written reply to Shri T M Selvaganapathi in Rajya Sabha today.





http://www.india-defence.com/reports-4889

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Some Ecuadorian Dhruvs!

 

[Kunal Biswas]

 

[Kunal Biswas]

 

[Kunal Biswas]

:special3:

 

[uggzmini]

Although I do not know what that means, but I still hope to learn from learning

 

[dineshchaturvedi]

As and when time will progress, we will see lot more of DHRUV components indigenously made, we will also get better with experience. Another 5 years and we will not remain novice in areonotics. We have got good start, now we just need to build the experince.

 

[warriorextreme]

awesome images kunal
they have painted it so good..

 

[RPK]

No To Israel, HAL Wants First Indian Glass Cockpit On LUH

http://livefist.blogspot.com/2011/01/no-to-israel-hal-wants-first-indian.html

HAL is breaking (thankfully) with tradition and wants an Indian-made glass cockpit (smart cockpit display system -- SCDS) on its in-development 3-ton Light Utility Helicopter (LUH). The move is a welcome move away from what it did with the flagship ALH Dhruv helicopter programme, where IAI was roped in to provide glass cockpits and market that version of the helicopter. HAL and Israel were in talks for a similar arrangement on the LUH as well, but the fresh tender floated today [.pdf] puts it all to rest. HAL wants Indian kit.

According to the tender document, "the Main Instrument Panel (image above) incorporates three Smart Multi Function Displays (SMFDs), and standby instruments, clock and a glare shield. The inter-seat console incorporates the avionic and system controls. An Over Head Panel between the pilots incorporates switches, Circuit Breakers, Rotor Brake control unit, cockpit light and two wander lights." The document indicates that the cockpit will be compatible with operation with Gen 3 and Gen 2++ NVGs.

HAL has invited proposals from prospective Indian firms capable of "indigenous design, development, manufacture and supply of requisite hardware based on COTS standard modules/ boards/ components or specifically developed modules /boards /components for the SCDS LRUs proposed for LUH." HAL, however, stipulates that "if required, the vendor may opt for a foreign collaborator to provide technical support under Transfer of Technology for development and manufacture."

The document also talks about the LUH's intended mission profile: "The military roles to be performed by LUH are primarily utility roles with future variants for armed roles. The utility roles include Armed Reconnaissance, Aerial photography, Scout Role in conjunction with attack helicopter, Platform for Electronic Support Measure (ESM), Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) and Electronic Counter Counter Measures (ECCM). LUH will be initially integrated with systems and equipment required for basic and military utility roles. Subsequently integration and certification of the helicopter for armed roles as well as civil/commercial variant would be taken up."

 

[black eagle]

Can anyone provide me the info how many dhruvs are operated & have been ordered by the IAF???

 

[Tshering22]

video of dhruv of mauritius police.....
Vid�o : Dhruv, le nouvel h�licopt�re de la police

You know I think the LUH Dhruv will sell big time to various police forces more than the 12 seater one that is more for military and evacuation emergency agencies. I hope that there is a strong pitch for the smaller single engine LUH variant of Dhruv which would be a good cost-effective and rugged choice for the world's police forces and even patrol services.

 

[Tshering22]

Some Ecuadorian Dhruvs!

I got to admit; the Ecuadorian ground forces seem to be pretty state of the art eh? Look at their gear. The Dhruv painting scheme for EAF is AMAZING! The cobra head gives it such a mean look.