HAL Prachand - Light Combat Helicopter (LCH)

[Indx TechStyle]

Army’s first LCH squadron moves to Missamari in Assam
The squadron with five LCH will be operational by January-end, sources say

Representational file image. | Photo Credit: PTI

The Army has moved its first Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) squadron to Missamari, Assam, in the eastern sector near the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The LCH, India’s first indigenously designed and developed attack helicopter, is also the first dedicated attack helicopter operated by the Army.

“Two helicopters have moved there on November 1. The third helicopter will move by November-end and fourth by mid-December. Army will receive the 5 th LCH by January-end. The squadron will be fully operational by then,” a defence source told The Hindu. The Air Force raised its first LCH squadron at Jodhpur in October.

The Army raised the 351 Army Aviation Squadron to operate the LCH on June 1, 2022 at Bengaluru and received the first LCH end-September. The shortest aerial distance of the LAC from Missamari is around 250 km.

The Army LCH will be armed with 20 mm nose gun, 70 mm rockets, helicopter-launched anti-tank guided missile and a new air-to-air missile different from the ‘Mistral-2’ from MBDA on the IAF LCH. However, as of now, both the missiles are yet to be deployed on the LCH. The Army plans to embed attack helicopters with all pivot formations to provide them with close anti-armour support.

The twin-engine LCH designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is a 5-8 tonne class dedicated combat helicopter conceptualised after the 1999 Kargil conflict. The helicopter has a combat radius of 500 km and a service ceiling of 21,000 feet which makes it ideal to operate at high-altitude areas including Siachen glacier.

In March 2020, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approved procurement of 15 Limited Series Production (LSP) variants of LCH at the cost of ₹3,887 crore along with infrastructure sanctions worth ₹377 crore. Of the 15 helicopters, 10 are for IAF and five for the Army.

Eventually, the Army is looking for another 95 LCH and the IAF another 65 of them. However, the contract is yet to be worked out and their induction is spread over the next 10-15 years, officials said. As reported earlier, the Army plans to eventually deploy 70 of its LCH in the mountains.

Army Aviation has three brigades at Leh, Missamari and Jodhpur operating around 145 indigenous Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH), 75 of which are the Rudra weaponised variants, and around 190 ageing Cheetah, Chetak and Cheetal helicopters. Another 25 ALH Mk-III are on order which will be inducted within two years. The Army will also start receiving the Apache attack helicopters in early 2024, six of which have been contracted under an estimated $800 million deal from Boeing in February 2020. In addition, the Army is also pushing a case for 11 more Apaches for which negotiations are under way.

 

[Dark Sorrow]

They should go for an interim solution such as Spike or Hellfire until the indigenous solution is available. It will take years for trials, MOD approval, CCS approval, production and finally integration.

Lockheed Martin is proposing Hellfire on LCH. Lets see how situation proceeds.

 

[mohitsingh501]

HAL Prachand helicopter vs Armed MALE Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle. Which is good in anti tank/anti armour role.

Like we have Rudra attack helicopter. Pakistan lack in attack helicopter. But they operate their indigenous shapher attack drone.

From above discussion is india in advantage or in equal position with Pakistan taking rudra attack helicopter against shapher drone

 

[NoobWannaLearn]

 

[CentralPoint]

HAL Prachand helicopter vs Armed MALE Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle. Which is good in anti tank/anti armour role.

Like we have Rudra attack helicopter. Pakistan lack in attack helicopter. But they operate their indigenous shapher attack drone.

From above discussion is india in advantage or in equal position with Pakistan taking rudra attack helicopter against shapher drone

Most Armed MALE UCAV's have a service ceiling of about 20-22000 ft. Prachand has a similar service ceiling.

UCAV's will typically fly a 'hi-hi-hi' profile staying out of range of anti-air systems or exploiting gaps in the radar coverage. This makes them particularly vulnerable. For all the great news of TB2's attacking tanks in Ukr-Rus conflict, there is an underlying note - not many tanks were actually lost, mobile AA systems like Pantsir were not deployed by Russia effectively and when they did deploy, the news of tanks being taken out by UCAVs' suddenly dipped.
Prachand and other Attack helis are designed for hi-lo-lo type attacks where they will fly 'nape of earth' profile to protect themselves, get in close for a shot - shoot and scoot.
UCAVs will not survive in a high AD dense environment (MALE/HALE). Attack helicopters, Ground attack aircraft will continue to be a 'hardcore' asset in the near future at least.

 

[WarmongerLSK]

Spoiler: backup

 

[NutCracker]

Praneeth Franklin on Instagram: "Green gleaming in gold! Army colours LCH teaser. ☀️🇮🇳 . . #indianarmy #praneethfranklin #lch #lightutilityhelicopter #mach1avcrew #mach1aviation #indianarmylovers #nikonz9 #nikon #nikonzseries #heli #rotary #chopper #sunset #sunlight #indianarmy #indianairforce #instaaviation #militaryaviationphotography #militaryaviation #worldofaviation #aviationreels #aviationphotography"

9,807 likes, 28 comments - praneethfranklin on February 8, 2023: "Green gleaming in gold! Army colours LCH teaser. ☀️🇮🇳 . . #indianarmy #praneethfranklin #lch #lightutilityhelicopter #mach1avcrew #mach1aviation #indianarmylovers #nikonz9 #nikon #nikonzseries #heli #rotary #chopper #sunset...

www.instagram.com

 

[NutCracker]

Angad Singh Instagram exclusive footage of Prachand .
'Cause I Didn't find it on twitter.

Angad Singh on Instagram: "After a grueling ten days, back in action for another ten with @aviationwall!"

38K likes, 233 comments - zone5av on February 8, 2023: "After a grueling ten days, back in action for another ten with @aviationwall!".

www.instagram.com

 

[vidhwanshak]

I went through frst few pages of this thread and I am thoroughly convinced that we live in a simulation.

Same enthusiam of the forum members and same delay caused by HAL.
It's a Never ending cycle.

 

[DumbPilot]

I went through frst few pages of this thread and I am thoroughly convinced that we live in a simulation.

Same enthusiam of the forum members and same delay caused by HAL.
It's a Never ending cycle.

holy shit

 

[Johny_Baba]

I went through frst few pages of this thread and I am thoroughly convinced that we live in a simulation.

Same enthusiam of the forum members and same delay caused by HAL.
It's a Never ending cycle.

maybe yeah...let's just take it further and consider all desi defense products like Nirbhay missile, Tejas Mk2, AMCA, TEDBF and what not

 

[WolfPack86]

Spike NLOS atgm for LCH Prachand

 

[abingdonboy]

I went through frst few pages of this thread and I am thoroughly convinced that we live in a simulation.

Same enthusiam of the forum members and same delay caused by HAL.
It's a Never ending cycle.

What delays to LCH? They are meeting their production timelines for the LSP batch, the issue for HAL is that they still haven’t received any orders beyond 10+5 so within the next few months the entire line will be idle

Same situation for LUH

some serious jokers inside MoD and the armed forces running programs like this

 

[Aniruddha Mulay]

I went through frst few pages of this thread and I am thoroughly convinced that we live in a simulation.

Same enthusiam of the forum members and same delay caused by HAL.
It's a Never ending cycle.

LoL, HAL is delivering 15 limited series production Prachand LCH to IAF and IA even without a formal contract in place.
Stop behaving stupid just for the sake of it.

 

[vidhwanshak]

What delays to LCH? They are meeting their production timelines for the LSP batch, the issue for HAL is that they still haven’t received any orders beyond 10+5 so within the next few months the entire line will be idle

Same situation for LUH

some serious jokers inside MoD and the armed forces running programs like this

I was talking about first few pages where the discussion about LCH's first flight was going on.
2008 --> March 2009 -> March 2010

 

[Corvus Splendens]

More Apaches coming

 

[WolfPack86]

Indian army order 95 LCH Prachand.

 

[TopWatcher]

Indian army order 95 LCH Prachand.

Still 95 is good order.

 

[abingdonboy]

 

[abingdonboy]

Still 95 is good order.

If they make any such size order in the next 5 years I’ll be shocked