Photo Credit: HAL

HAL’s indigenously designed and developed Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) attained a milestone by successfully completing the hot weather flight trials for a nearly one week at Jodhpur recently. “Test flights were carried out in the temperature range of 39 to 42 degree Celsius. These were done with the involvement of customer pilots from Indian Air Force and Army in presence of representatives from RCMA and DGAQA”, says Mr. T. Suvarana Raju, CMD, HAL.

LCH prototype, TD-3 was ferried from Bengaluru to Jodhpur to achieve the successful trials. The flight testing covered ‘temperature survey of engine bay and hydraulic system’, ‘assessment of performance’, ‘handling qualities and loads’ at different ‘all up weights’, ‘low speed handling’ and ‘height-velocity diagram establishment’.

LCH had completed cold weather flight testing at Leh in February 2015. Two LCH – one on static and another on flying display- enthralled people at Aero India 2015 held in Bengaluru earlier this year. The LCH is expected to receive Initial Operational Clearance and enter into series production by the end of this year.

About Light Combat Helicopter (LCH): The Light Combat Helicopter is a twin- engine, dedicated combat helicopter of 5.8-ton class designed and developed by HAL to meet the requirements of Indian defence forces. The helicopter is designed to carry out dedicated combat roles such as Air Defence, anti-tank, scout and support combat search /rescue missions.

The indigenous design of the helicopter incorporates advanced technology features for facilitating combat operations and includes a narrow fuselage with tandem seating configuration for Pilot and Co-pilot / Weapon system operator (WSO). It incorporates a number of stealth features such as reduced visual, aural, radar and infra-red signatures and crashworthy landing gear, armour protection for better survivability. The helicopter is powered by two Shakti engines.