Three Killed in Eucador's Second HAL Dhruv Crash

Sea Eagle

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India's 'Dhruv' Helicopter falls under the Scanner as Ecuador Expresses Dissatisfaction

-India's flagship defence export, the 'Dhruv' Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), has come under the scanner once again as Ecuador has claimed that these choppers are becoming a cause for concern due to poor after sales service, expensive spares and even over-invoicing. The critical shortcomings are directed at state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) by Ecuador which is the biggest overseas customer of 'Dhruv' ALH.
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India had bagged a contract to supply seven 'Dhruv' ALH to Ecuado under a $ 51 million deal in 2009 and the choppers were inducted into the Ecuadorian Air Force. As of now, Ecuador is wary of the 'Dhruv' ALH since it has already witnessed acrashof the 'Dhruv' ALH in the past and two choppers have been grounded on account of malfunctioning of over-speed management unit (OMU). Currently, Ecuador has been perturbed by the high repair cost which Indian manufacturer is demanding for the OMU. According to sources, India is demanding $ 250,000 for the repair of the OMU, which is way more than the amount which original US company that manufactures the OMU charges.


-While Ecuador has been besieged by this current problem, it is yet to receive the last consignment of two helicopters from India. To compound the problem, India has also raised the price of two additional 'Dhruv' ALH and it now stands at $ 12 million apiece. Apparently, Ecuadorian Air Force may even cancel the order for the last two choppers due to the mounting issues related to cost, maintenance problems and poor after sale service.

-State-run HAL which manufactures the 'Dhruv' ALH is yet to respond officially to Ecuador regarding these contentious issues.
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'Dhruv' ALH is widely used the Indian Armed Forces and has been sold to various countries including Peru, Burma, Turkey, Maldives, Mauritius and Nepal. The military versions in production are for transport, utility, reconnaissance and MedEvac roles and civilian variant of theDhruvfor transport, rescue, policing, offshore operations and air-ambulance role. However, the growing negativity surrounding the 'Dhruv' ALH's credibility, is likely to upset India's plan to export its chopper to South American nations such as Chile and Brazil besides other countries.
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It may be noted that even the Indian Air Force (IAF) has been critical of the 'Dhruv' ALH last year when it refused to accept any 'Dhruv' chopper until HAL fixed a problem that was restricting the chopper's cruising speed to 250 kilometers per hour, significantly short of the 270 kilometer per hour that HAL specifications promise. In addition, there was a problem with 'Dhruv' ALH's Integrated Dynamic System (IDS), which transfers power from the engines to the helicopter rotors, that was not performing optimally. In hindsight, Defence Ministry had remarked last year that the operationalisation of 'Dhruv' ALH before sorting out the design problems was unwise. The IAF had asked HAL for about 75 design changes prior to 'Dhruv' ALH's development but the eagerness to press the chopper into service may have lead to a compromise on the design.
 
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Glint

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Well, Its a shame, cannot talk the way out of this. HAL needs to fix the stuff. Its really destroying the reputation of Indian equipment's
I don't think any other countries would be interested in buying dhruv with this kinda flight records
 

Kunal Biswas

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All this so public and immature way of handling these issues ..

Some people need to be fired ..
 

mattster

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I think same thing also happened when Interest on Arjun mbt was shown by a South American country. :tsk:
Maybe this is a good thing.

India is a country that has very little experience in aircraft or helicopter manufacturing. Why the rush to go and export your first locally made helicopter or even fighter aircraft. The learning curve in this industry is a long hard road. And India is not exactly known for manufacturing expertise.

Plus the reputation and quality control of HAL is not exactly world-class....is it ? Even the IAF guys barely trust HAL.

So why would you go and expose yourself by exporting a few piddly helicopters to some 3rd world country like Ecuador.
As you know.....most 3rd world countries may also have 3rd world technicians, and 3rd world maintenance standards.
So even if your Chopper is fine but they had a problem with maintenance.......you India are still going to get blamed for it.

With so little experience under the belt in helicopter design and manufacturing.......why take the risk in exporting it so soon.
Sell it to your own armed forces, coast guard, etc, and let them work out all the kinks and design issues, and when you are making 2nd or 3rd generation Dhruv helicopter - then you start thinking of exports.

Does selling 5 or 10 Dhruv helicopters to a couple of African or South American countries really make that much difference to HAL financially ?
Its a piss in the bucket !!
 

Armand2REP

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It is hard to take, but HAL isn't ready for prime time. After sales service is half the game.


Sent from my iPhone 5S using Tapatalk 2
 

Kunal Biswas

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It does not explain anything coz the same other hardware that forces used are maintained by 3rd world Indians and used by 3rd world Indians ..

Explains the reluctance of military to induct arjun and tejas too.
 

Voldemort

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The Board of Inquiry has submitted its findings, related to the crash, to the Defense Ministry of Ecuador but the DM did not disclose the report.

Ecuador adquirirá 18 aviones para entrenamiento militar | Ecuavisa

Someone please translate the entire article to English. Thanks !!
The Defence Minister, Maria Fernanda Espinosa, confirmed the purchase of a fleet of aircraft, as part of the modernization of the Armed Forces.

This is the IA-73 Unasur I aircraft to be designed and built by the factory Brigadier San Martín Argentina as part of the first regional project to develop the defense industry in the countries of the union of South American nations.

The Defence Minister, Maria Fernanda Espinosa, said the aircraft will serve the basic training of Ecuadorian pilots.

The air fleet is part of the modernization of the operational capacity of the armed forces promoted by the government and includes the acquisition of transport aircraft, helicopters and radars.

On another issue, Minister Espinosa said the board investigating the collision accidents analyzed presidential helicopter Dhruv, in Huigra last February, and Chimborazo in which three people died, presented the report of the incident, but declined to reveal its contents.

In October 2009, another crash of a Dhruv helicopter FAE Hal bought the company in India was recorded. The report of the board of inquiry concluded that the incident occurred by human error.
 

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