HAL Prachand - Light Combat Helicopter (LCH)

[LETHALFORCE]

Any plans to have NAG modified version HELINA placed on LCH soon??

http://www.janes.com/articles/Janes-Air-Launched-Weapons/Nag-Helina-India.html

Nag (Helina) (India), Air-to-surface missiles - Direct attack

Type
Infra-red guided battlefield missile.

Development
The Nag (Helina) anti-tank missile is one of several Indian weapons programmes launched under the national Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme of 1983. The prime contractor for production is Bharat Dynamics, working alongside India's Defence Research and Development Laboratory, based in Hyderabad. Despite development work stretching over two decades the Nag has yet to enter service. The air-launched version, known as Helina, is intended to arm India's HAL Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters, but the Nag will first enter service as a ground-launched weapon, along with the dedicated NAMICA (NAg MIssile CArrier) vehicle.Nag design work began in 1988 and the missile made its first-development test firing at the Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) range at Chandipur in early 1990. Trials in 1996/97 tested the low-smoke solid propellant motor and imaging infra-red (IIR) seeker. The first successful test of the IIR seeker was reported in September 1997. The first airborne firing trials were carried out using a modified Mi-17 in March 1998. Target acquisition and command guidance were carried out by a FLIR and laser range-finder combination. Early integration work with the ALH began in 1999 but since then the airborne trials programme has stalled. Initial Nag trials for the Indian Army were reported to have started in late 1998 with user trials in 1999. Initial low rate production of 25 missiles reportedly began in February 2000.On 2 September 2001 a Nag test firing was reported at the Interim Test Range in Balasore, Orissa state. The missile was launched

 

[bhogta]

The more technically sound people pls explain why the twin tails along besides the tail rotor on either side. Also the landing gear doesn't look retractable. I know you cannot retract at 15 mtrs flight but I think the design looks like you cannot retract the landing gear. if it is a non retractable system, then why so? Would it not hinder the aerodynamics and also it will be prone to damage in a battle field?

There are horizontal stabilizer and vertical stabilizer in a helicopter in general. Horizontal stabilizer gives good pitch stabilization in forward flight. Its needed for more stability. They are same as plane wing. But they don,t have any lift changing abilities. In high speed (forward) helicopter is more noise down and any gust make it more noise down in that time this stabilizer give a pitch up to helicopter.

Vertical stabilizer gives anti torque in high forward speed and tail rotor need less power. You will surprise to know that in very high forward speed (one particular speed) helicopter don't need vertical tail at all thanks to vertical stabilizers.

 

[bhogta]

A horizontal stabilizer helps in longitudinal stability, with its efficiency greater the further it is from the center of gravity. It is also more efficient at higher airspeeds because lift is proportional to the square of the airspeed. Since the speed of a gyroplane is not very high, manufacturers can achieve the desired stability by varying the size of the horizontal stabilizer, changing the distance it is from the center of gravity, or by placing it in the propeller slipstream.

 

[Dark_Prince]

Lch

General characteristics


Crew: 2
Length: 15.8 m (51ft 8in)
Rotor diameter: 13.3 m (43 ft 6 in)
Height: 4.7 m (15 ft 4 in)
Disc area: 138.9 m² (1472 ft²)
Empty weight: 2550 kg (5621 lb)
Loaded weight: 4000 kg (8818 lb)
Useful load: 2950 kg (6503 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 5,500 kg (12125 lb)
Powerplant: 2× HAL/Turbomeca Shakti turboshafts, 900 kW (1200 hp) each

Performance

Never exceed speed: 330 km/h (178 knots, 207 mph)
Maximum speed: 275 km/h (148 knots, 171 mph)
Cruise speed: 260 km/h (140 knots, 161 mph)
Range: 700km (297 nm, 342 mi)
Service ceiling: 6400 m (21,300 ft)
Rate of climb: 12 m/s (2362 ft/min)
Disc loading: kg/m² (lb/ft²)
Power/mass: W/kg (hp/lb)

Armament

Guns: M621 20 mm cannon on Nexter THL-20 turret
Rockets: Unguided rockets
Missiles: MBDA air-to-air missiles
Air-to-surface missiles
Anti-radiation missiles
Helina ATGM(8)
Bombs: Iron bombs
cluster bomb units
grenade launcher
Avionics
Saab EW

 

[Armand2REP]

French engines, French guns, French missiles... I'm liking it more every day.

 

[bhogta]

http://books.google.co.in/books?id=nMV-TkaX-9cC&pg=PA312&lpg=PA312&dq=vertical+stabilizer+in+helicopter&source=bl&ots=CodXodYHcw&sig=uFTVvYbPf4E748SDdfc9xTQjBZI&hl=en&ei=HD2yS93kBo-zrAf41-DzAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CA0Q6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=vertical%20stabilizer%20in%20helicopter&f=false

Read this page and you under stand more, Yusuf bhai

 

[Yusuf]

Thanks bhogta. What about the landing gear?

 

[Yusuf]

French engines, French guns, French missiles... I'm liking it more every day.

We'd like to call the engine our own. Thanks to the french for the support.

 

[Armand2REP]

We'd like to call the engine our own. Thanks to the french for the support.

Thanks for the money and jobs. Bordes is getting lots of work thanks to exports to India. We don't mind if you slap an Indian sticker on it. But lets be realistic here.

 

[notinlove]

i think we are going several miles OT here.. so lets all calm down

 

[ahmedsid]

MOD: Okay Guys, Stay on Topic, I havent given an infraction in like a week, and I really want to!

 

[Armand2REP]

Staying on Topic is Gud!! But these is no harm in having some fun, when we have French Patriots, its great to test each others' skills in exaggerating OT. This is not at all India vs Pakistan, but a friendly duel!!offtopic

I wasn't trying to go off topic. I was discussing the French components of LCH until you turned it nationalistic.

Back to LCH...

I think it needs a bigger gun. 20mm is too small.

 

[notinlove]

The more technically sound people pls explain why the twin tails along besides the tail rotor on either side. Also the landing gear doesn't look retractable. I know you cannot retract at 15 mtrs flight but I think the design looks like you cannot retract the landing gear. if it is a non retractable system, then why so? Would it not hinder the aerodynamics and also it will be prone to damage in a battle field?

I checked the pictures of both apache and eurocopter tiger and both dont seem to have retractable landing gear .. and both have those tails.. so i guess its common for attack helos to have such config.

 

[notinlove]

I wasn't trying to go off topic. I was discussing the French components of LCH until you turned it nationalistic.

Back to LCH...

I think it needs a bigger gun. 20mm is too small.

Yeah.. i agree .. its never big enough..

but considering they are touting it as a LIGHT combat helo .. i guess they don't think it needs a bigger one.

 

[Dark_Prince]

I wasn't trying to go off topic. I was discussing the French components of LCH until you turned it nationalistic.

Back to LCH...

I think it needs a bigger gun. 20mm is too small.

No Armand, I was Just having Fun with you! as you saw everything French in LCH, so I thought lets tease!

Back To Topic:

Yes its gt a small Gun, I think they wud replace it by Mutli-Barrel heavy machine Gun (e.g M61) and could introduce Optical Locator System (OLS), it won't be a BAD option!

 

[Armand2REP]

No Armand, I was Just having Fun with you! as you saw everything French in LCH, so I thought lets tease!

Back To Topic:

Yes its gt a small Gun, I think they wud replace it by Mutli-Barrel heavy machine Gun (e.g M61) and could introduce Optical Locator System (OLS), it won't be a BAD option!

I think the reason for the smaller gun is the weight restrictions placed on LCH. They were having trouble getting it cut down to size to meet the requirements. I don't see why they are having problems with two 1200 shp engines on board.

 

[notinlove]

I think the reason for the smaller gun is the weight restrictions placed on LCH. They were having trouble getting it cut down to size to meet the requirements. I don't see why they are having problems with two 1200 shp engines on board.

because its supposed to fly at heights where normal helos aren't supposed to fly ....

 

[Armand2REP]

because its supposed to fly at heights where normal helos aren't supposed to fly ....

If that is the case I think they should make two versions, one with the 20mm Nexter and one with the 30mm Giat for lower altitudes.

 

[enlightened1]

India's Light Combat copter makes first flight​

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/india%5Cs-light-combat-copter-makes-first-flight/390258/​

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/india%5Cs-light-combat-copter-makes-first-flight/390258/http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/india%5Cs-light-combat-copter-makes-first-flight/390258/

Ajai Shukla / New Delhi March 31, 2010, 0:55 IST

As the helicopter taxied slowly along the airstrip, a little knot of designers and executives from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) watched silently, the sweat beads on their foreheads from more than just the Bangalore heat. March 29 had been selected for a landmark attempt: The first flight of the indigenous Light Combat Helicopter (LCH). Already a year late, and facing criticism for having gone several hundred kilograms overweight, the LCH had much to prove.

Attack helicopters involve the most complex aeronautical, stealth, sensor and weapons technologies. HAL’s state-of-the-art LCH aims to gatecrash an exclusive club of light attack helicopters that includes Eurocopter’s Tiger and China’s ultra-secret Zhisheng-10 (Z-10). In high-altitude performance, the LCH will be in a class by itself: Taking off from Himalayan altitudes of 10,000 feet, operating rockets and guns up to 16,300 feet, and launching missiles at UAVs flying at over 21,000 feet.

At 3.30 pm, the twin Shakti engines roared to a crescendo and the LCH pilots, Group Captains Unni Pillai and Hari Nair, lifted off the ground. The futuristic helicopter, all angles and armoured sheets, flew for a distance just a few feet above the runway; then cheering and clapping broke out as it climbed to 50 feet. Over the next 15 minutes, Pillai and Nair put the LCH through its first flight test, doing a clockwise and then an anti-clockwise turn, hovering motionless and circling the airport four times.

“It is a big day for all of us, especially those involved in the LCH’s design and fabrication,” Ashok Nayak, chairman and managing director of HAL, told Business Standard. “We were going to have the first LCH flight in December but, for one reason or another, it kept getting delayed.”

A feared predator in the modern battlefield, the attack helicopter is a key weapon system against enemy tanks. Once an enemy tank column is detected, attack helicopters speed to confront them, flying just 20-30 feet high to avoid radar detection with enemy rifle and machine-gun bullets ricocheting off their armoured sides. Hiding behind trees or a ridgeline, they pop up when the tanks are about 4 kilometres away to fire missiles that smash through a tank’s armour.

Excess weight has been the main reason for the delay in the LCH programme. The heavy armour needed for protection against enemy fire conflicts with the need for a light, highly mobile helicopter that can twist and dodge and hover stationary to allow pilots to aim and fire their missiles. The LCH was supposed to weight just 2.5 tonnes when empty; but the design team found that it actually weighed 580 kg more than that.

At lower altitudes, this would not be a significant drawback. But, at the LCH’s flight ceiling of 6,000 metres (almost 20,000 feet), this would significantly reduce the LCH’s payload of weapons and ammunition.

Last September, the chief of HAL’s Helicopter Complex, R Srinivasan, told Business Standard that the LCH’s weight would be progressively reduced over the first three Technology Demonstrators (TDs) of the LCH. “We will find ways of cutting down TD-1 by 180-200 kg; TD-2, will be another 100 kg lighter; and TD-3 will shave off another 65-75 kg. That would leave the LCH about 200 kg heavier than originally planned, but the IAF has accepted that.”

HAL chief Ashok Nayak today confirmed to Business Standard that this schedule was on track. “The weight reduction that we had targeted for TD-1, which flew on Monday, has been met. The second prototype, TD-1, which will make its first flight by September, will be lighter still.”

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has said that it needs 65 LCHs; the army wants another 114. If the development programme is not delayed further, the LCH will enter service by 2015-2016. To meet its needs till then, the Ministry of Defence floated a global tender for 22 attack helicopters. With only three companies responding, that tender was cancelled last year.

But HAL remains confident since most of the key technologies in the LCH — e.g., the Shakti engine, the rotors and the main gearbox — have already been proven in the Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter, 159 of which are being built for the army and the air force.

Simultaneously, the LCH’s weapons and sensors are being tested on a weaponised version of the Dhruv. These include a Nexter 20 mm turret-mounted cannon, an MBDA air-to-air missile, and an EW suite from SAAB, South Africa. India’s Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO) is developing an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) for the LCH. Based on the already developed Nag ATGM, the HELINA (or HELIicopter-mounted NAg) missile can destroy tanks from a distance of seven kilometres.

 

[Solid Beast]

Here is some information regarding the main gun. I also think the 20x102mm ammunition is too small for my tastes, if I was to make a new attack chopper platform I would give it a way bigger gun, it is incredibly versatile and gets many jobs done cheaper and can have a huge psychological impact on the enemy. APC's, IFV's, towed howitzers, MBT's, and even other aircraft and helicopters are becoming increasingly well protected against such ammunition. Although in the South Asian context it would not be considered that underpowered of a round.

PS : CAIC with their WZ-10 can go climb a pole, LCH is here, feel the roar.



20 mm caliber

The 20 mm caliber is a specific size of cannon or autocannon ammunition, commonly the smallest caliber which is unambiguously a cannon (or more commonly today, autocannon) and not a heavy machine gun.

There are relatively few weapons which have been built which fire projectiles between .50 caliber (0.50 inch/12.7 mm, roughly 12 mm caliber) and 20 mm caliber, though the 14.5 mm caliber was used by some Soviet machineguns such as the KPV and antitank rifles such as PTRS and PTRD.

A very small number of anti-tank rifles have been produced in 20 mm and up calibers.

20 mm caliber cartridges have an outside shell diameter and inside barrel diameter of 0.8 inch (20 millimeters). Projectiles or shells are typically 3 to 4 inches long (76 to 104 mm). Cartridges are typically 3 to 5 inches long (76 to 127 mm). Many but not all 20 mm shells have an explosive filling and detonating fuze.

As an example, the 20x102 has a 100 gram bullet fired at a muzzle velocity of 1,035 m/s. For a simple slug round this is a muzzle energy of 53,600 joules or 39,500 ft·lbf.


M621 cannon

The Giat M621 is a French 20 mm calibre, gas-operated delayed blowback single-barrel cannon produced since 1974. The Giat M621 was primarily designed for use on small ground vehicles and helicopters, and was developed between 1962 and 1973 based on the AME582. The Giat M621 has a selectable rate of fire of single-shot, 300 and 740 rounds per minute, and a muzzle velocity of between 990 and 1026 metres per second offering an effective range of 1500 metres.

Helicopter Platforms
Aerospatiale Alouette III, Gazelle, Puma and Super Frelon; Bell 406 CS; Eurocopter Ecureuil, Fennec, Super Puma/Cougar, Dauphin/Panther, IAR-330L Puma.


Weight 45.5 kg
Length 2,207 mm
Width 202 mm (in mount)
Height 245 mm (in mount)

Action Blowback operated
Rate of fire 800 rounds/min
Muzzle velocity 1,005 m/s (AP-T)
985 m/s (HEI and TP)
Feed system Open-link M12 belt