Indian Military Helicopters

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fanne
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by fanne »

It looks like HAL is looking for specific Navy input (some big and obvious things like - folding blades, but mostly small, not so obvious things like flat top, or better grip to go up to the engine and the likes). The later cannot be found in any book or publication. Hire as contractor, ex-Navy Helo guys - pilots, maintenance crew on ship, on land etc. and take their input on what is needed, how does your typical day looks like while servicing the helo, what all kinds of maintenance you do or have done...This will generate bunch of requirements, proactively incorporate it. I guess throw some money investment and work towards a heli that Navy cannot refuse. Ya you may loose all that money if Navy does not select it, but it is no different that LUH or ALH. If you make them, they will buy it, if not all 114, maybe another 50. As economy grows, IN is going to grow and will need more NUH. They do favor desi, why they are so pi$$ed of? HAL treated them as a sautela. Invest money to wash your past mistakes.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by Aditya G »

I can Navy debate to repeat for the IMRH as well.
ashishvikas wrote:An interesting pic of IMRH wind tunnel test under the watchful eyes of Wg Cdr Unni Pillai (Retd), Executive Director (Flight Operations-Rotary Wing), HAL. The prog is slowly and steadily picking pace. And, that'd good news on #AFDay2020 .

https://twitter.com/writetake/status/13 ... 03/photo/1

Image
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by ramana »

fanne, After Covid downturn and atmanirbhar Bharat, it's going to be very difficult to justify imports when local capability exists for all three services.
So LUH will be a HAL design.
Enough subsidizing foreign makers.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by Vips »

HAL is also planning to make a Combat Helicopter (HCH ?) based on the IMRH.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by fanne »

ramana wrote:fanne, After Covid downturn and atmanirbhar Bharat, it's going to be very difficult to justify imports when local capability exists for all three services.
So LUH will be a HAL design.
Enough subsidizing foreign makers.
Hopefully Sir (and you meant NUH while writing LUH) - If I may give a plan to HAL - choti muh badi baat

1.Put your own money (perhaps they are already) towards this NUH. (They have done that for LCH, HTT-40 some successful program, some unsuccessful like civilian variant of ALH, which has gone no where). So putting own money (LCH, HTT-40) or high prospect of loosing investment cannot be an argument (ALH- Civilian version)
2. Give Navy all they want...not in 2022 but sooner. Time is of essence. I am sure it is within HAL capability to do this - does need prioritization and fund from top. A push from top HAL management can do wonders (I don't know if MOD or anyone needs to be involved)
3. Give everything that Navy wants - not 90% of it is asking (the only thing not achievable is AUW - 5.8 tons vs 5 tons). If possible exceed it - Kind of what Apple does - All little things are improved and though through that it really is beyond user imagination
4. The big items are known to HAL to fix - folding blades, radar etc. That will be most costly to fix but is a known devil
5. There are many small items that Navy wants or expects. Some Navy would know- others they may not know (but expect HAL to think through) -two approaches - an joint team of Navy and HAL personnel on what it is. Also hire retired IN Heli maintenance personnel as consultant. A foreign vendor for consulting may also be a good (but doubt how much they will help and at what price).
6. Can we convince Navy for a 5.6 tons Helo over 5 tons? I am against forcing services changing their operational needs/specs, they know best unless there is some hanky/panky. In this case 5 tons does look like favoring a particular product.

We should own the middle weight helo space in India for everything - IA/IAF/IN/CG/GOVT/CIVILIAN. The lighter one is also being taken up LUH (226T - double engine is good). Soon IMRH will take over the heavy one (though MI-17Vs are good and cheap - towards what end?).
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by KSingh »

fanne wrote:It looks like HAL is looking for specific Navy input (some big and obvious things like - folding blades, but mostly small, not so obvious things like flat top, or better grip to go up to the engine and the likes). The later cannot be found in any book or publication. Hire as contractor, ex-Navy Helo guys - pilots, maintenance crew on ship, on land etc. and take their input on what is needed, how does your typical day looks like while servicing the helo, what all kinds of maintenance you do or have done...This will generate bunch of requirements, proactively incorporate it. I guess throw some money investment and work towards a heli that Navy cannot refuse. Ya you may loose all that money if Navy does not select it, but it is no different that LUH or ALH. If you make them, they will buy it, if not all 114, maybe another 50. As economy grows, IN is going to grow and will need more NUH. They do favor desi, why they are so pi$$ed of? HAL treated them as a sautela. Invest money to wash your past mistakes.
All of the animosity seems to be because of the bad experience the navy had with the hand built N-ALH MK.1 LSP airframes it’s no coincidence that the TPs and project managers from the Navy who were hands on with that early model are now in every senior positions of the service and thus directing the course of the navy’s procurement towards imports



Perhaps it will take the current batch of TPs and project managers attached to HAL as part of the ALH 16 MK.3 induction rising to senior levels for perceptions to change but I hope it doesn’t take that long, that will be 10-15 years from now.



This will likely need the defence minister to personally intervene. In the age of COVID and Atmanirbharta an imported basic utility helicopter when ALH is there is just not feasible.



Let’s be honest, HAL has matured to the level today where any design requirements (within reason) asked of them they can incorporate to satisfy the navy’s requirements. See what they are doing to the MK.3 to make it fully compliant with the navy’s NUH RFI NSQRs (removing the rear fuel tank, maritime radar, heavy High intensity strobe etc)


One thing that that LIVEFIST article touched upon is that the H145M, S-76 and KA226 are unlikely to be technically compliant with the NUH RFI leaving just the Panther in the running as a single vendor situation and then questions will be asked whether the RFI was tailored to the Panther from the outset and it’s hard to argue that it wasn’t. I mean who puts a limit on AUW? Basic weight I can understand, TOM I can understand but AUW? It has never made sense that the navy put an upper limit on AUW as the empty weight+payload are the only limiting weight (aka mission weight).


For instance the Panther and ALH actually have very similar empty weights (separated by less than 500KG) but crucially the ALH’s AUW is 30% more than the Panthers (4.5 vs 5.75T) that extra 1.25T is all extra payload the ALH is certified to carry and payload is extra fuel (more range/endurance), extra pax, extra stores, extra mission equipment etc etc. The phenomenon of obsolescence management has seen empty weights only going in one direction ( increasing) so one can say the ALH is more future proof than the Panther as systems can be added to it in the future without compromising the mission load as severely as it would on the Panther
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by basant »

fanne wrote: ... If I may give a plan to HAL - choti muh badi baat ...
I don't think asking HAL to take HTT-40 approach would be fair. Decisions such as funding from internal resources to HTT-40 and preproduction of LCH were done, IIRC, during aggressive leadership of HAL CMD Sh Suvarna Raju. The success of HTT-40 was helped significantly by the Pilatus scandal. As for LCH, they are still grounded! And again, unless I am wrong, the government has not payed the dues of HAL for products that IAF purchased running into Rs. 17,000 crore! I am not saying HAL is blameless, but in my opinion, it has done outstanding work as well in the sphere of helicopters at least.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by bharathp »

basant wrote:
fanne wrote: ... If I may give a plan to HAL - choti muh badi baat ...
I don't think asking HAL to take HTT-40 approach would be fair. Decisions such as funding from internal resources to HTT-40 and preproduction of LCH were done, IIRC, during aggressive leadership of HAL CMD Sh Suvarna Raju. The success of HTT-40 was helped significantly by the Pilatus scandal. As for LCH, they are still grounded! And again, unless I am wrong, the government has not payed the dues of HAL for products that IAF purchased running into Rs. 17,000 crore! I am not saying HAL is blameless, but in my opinion, it has done outstanding work as well in the sphere of helicopters at least.
LCH is grounded? werent they getting the LSP deal in december and already started work on it in anticipation of the said deal?
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by basant »

^^^
Oops, I meant they are still on ground, not taken for operational flying! My bad.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by nachiket »

basant wrote:^^^
Oops, I meant they are still on ground, not taken for operational flying! My bad.
What does that mean? We recently saw pictures of all three prototypes being flown in Ladakh. And you can't really fly them operationally before they are inducted into the IAF. The Air Force is still patiently waiting on the MoD to sign that contract.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by basant »

^^^
I was referring to the production helos. You may recollect DM Rajnath visiting them sometime back during his visit to HAL.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by fanne »

I understand the AUW (All up weight) argument - It is like saying in a competition, minimum marks to qualify is say 60% (which is all right, one can understand), but if you get sat 95+/100 you are disqualified (hard to justify). If you do not need AUW over 5T, don't load ALH over 5T. The only argument against is that the Heli is not optimized for 5T (against say Panther, that cannot go over 5T even if it wanted) and may consume more fuel/space etc. compare to Panther.
Perhaps Covid and AtmaNirbhar Bharat may force the hand for NUH. But HAL, please step up.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by raghuk »

tsarkar wrote:
raghuk wrote: The engine cowling opens downwards to become a platform for maintenance personnel to stand and work in the field. It is the same for the LUH too, because access to the UCS and TX system is a critical aspect of DI and we cannot expect elaborate facilities in the field, so cowlings are designed to carry the weight of one or sometimes 2 people.

In the picture attached with post it is possible that the guy was just too lazy to open the cowling or that the work involved was minor, which didn't need the opening of the cowling.

Further, all these cowlings come with quick release fastners to enable easy access.

Given all these, I'm very sure the NUH will have no problems in meeting the Navy's requirements with respect to folding time and access to the bolts. Cheers!
Raghu, thanks for the input. If HAL does a HTT-40 with NUH, I promise you a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label to celebrate :D Its not a joke, it’s a gentleman’s word
Being done sir. You better get that bottle ready, I'll share it with all the good folks involved ;)
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by tsarkar »

raghuk wrote:
tsarkar wrote: Raghu, thanks for the input. If HAL does a HTT-40 with NUH, I promise you a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label to celebrate :D Its not a joke, it’s a gentleman’s word
Being done sir. You better get that bottle ready, I'll share it with all the good folks involved ;)
Eagerly waiting for that day.

More than the bottle, it will be the immense faith and respect you will earn from your customers for being responsive to their needs that will be priceless.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by tsarkar »

Raghunathgb wrote:HAL is expected to have orders of LCH and LUH and also kamov 226 if it finalises.
None of those orders have been placed. And lines for all 3 have to be established. So there will be a production gap. The NUH can fill that production gap for HAL because the ALH Dhruv line is still open.
Raghunathgb wrote:Increase the AUW to 5.75 ton to be eligible in the tender.

I don't think anyone will hold the 0.75 if the other must have criteria are met.

For more orders,

the other thing HAL needs to do is to work with Army HQ and establish the Dhruv as a replacement for the BMP-2 like the Huey in Vietnam and Mi-8/17 in Afghanistan.

1. The Dhruv goes places where the BMP-2 cant
2. The Dhruv can shuttle multiple sections like the Meghna Lift in 1971 in multiple trips that BMP-2 cant or will take excessive time.

The Dhruv represents a quantum leap in battlefield mobility over the BMP-2.

It was battlefield mobility in crossing the Meghna using helicopters that won the Indian Army its greatest victory in capturing Dhaka and the Pakistan Army's unconditional surrender.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by KSingh »

basant wrote:^^^
I was referring to the production helos. You may recollect DM Rajnath visiting them sometime back during his visit to HAL.
That's not strictly true either, HAL has gone ahead and began finalising the LSP airframes we recently just saw the first LSP airframe have its ground run so it should be flying soon along with the rest of the LSP batch

https://twitter.com/livefist/status/131 ... 47296?s=20


Pathetic state of affairs that HAL has gone to such lengths that NO foreign (or private) OEM would do and it's still waiting for a contract and upfront payment for these LCH LSP, I don't know what planet service HQs/MoD is on. If not for HAL's initiative these helos wouldn't be delivered before 2023/4 (assuming they stick to the latest December deadline to sign the deal), instead they can likely be handed over in H1 2021, the 6 Army AH-64Es are still only going to land in India in 2023.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by KSingh »

tsarkar wrote:
Raghunathgb wrote:
the other thing HAL needs to do is to work with Army HQ and establish the Dhruv as a replacement for the BMP-2 like the Huey in Vietnam and Mi-8/17 in Afghanistan.

1. The Dhruv goes places where the BMP-2 cant
2. The Dhruv can shuttle multiple sections like the Meghna Lift in 1971 in multiple trips that BMP-2 cant or will take excessive time.

The Dhruv represents a quantum leap in battlefield mobility over the BMP-2.

It was battlefield mobility in crossing the Meghna using helicopters that won the Indian Army its greatest victory in capturing Dhaka and the Pakistan Army's unconditional surrender.
That would take the IA to propose moving to an air cav strategy, they are said to have tested this out in a limited fashion but not much news after this and we certainly didn't see a spate of new ALH orders from the ALH since.

Perhaps the IA is waiting for the IMRH to become a reality before they fully adopt the air cav strategy.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by Vivek K »

KSingh - totally agree. HAL has gone further than any foreign vendor but will still only get mocked by the forces. Maybe that is why it should be privatized. But privatization will not solve Indian's lust for imports. No industry can survive or improve itself without orders. So because of its treatment by IAF, HAL cannot be privatized as no one will buy it. I think if HAL is sold overseas and production moved to Europe or North America, Indians may finally like the LCA.

In any event, the LCA program will die just like the Marut program and in 2050 India will embark on a new program to catch up with the world in Aviation. IAF will order more Rafales and there will be no money left for LCAs in the post COVID economy. Time to wind up the LCA program and get the Acquisitions thread active again.

Indians are the only group that cheer sending their jobs overseas. All others take pride in their products and fight hard to keep their jobs local.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by ks_sachin »

KSingh wrote:
tsarkar wrote:
That would take the IA to propose moving to an air cav strategy, they are said to have tested this out in a limited fashion but not much news after this and we certainly didn't see a spate of new ALH orders from the ALH since.

Perhaps the IA is waiting for the IMRH to become a reality before they fully adopt the air cav strategy.
Cost?

Are we talking about replacing about 50 odd mech batallions?

How feasible in today's manpad rich Env?
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by ramana »

Grp Capt Hari Nair,
What ATGMs are compatible witht he El Ops D-Compass pod?
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by ramana »

Yes I meant NUH.

HAL does not have own money to develop a weapons system.
GOI needs to give the money for that effort.
For example:
US model is govt gives Development contract. And that engages the forces to be part of the development team. Here we have catalog mentality
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by tsarkar »

ks_sachin wrote:Cost? Are we talking about replacing about 50 odd mech batallions?
Good point. Obviously from a financial perspective cant be a big bang rip & replace. The way forward is buying new helicopters incrementally while retiring old ICVs.

In J&K the Dhruv is providing significant operational mobility. Like one one where the ice ledge broke and paras fell near the terrorists. They were inserted by Dhruv.

Most importantly it offers speed and flexibility in the mountains where no other form of transport would work.
ks_sachin wrote:How feasible in today's manpad rich Env?
Another good question. Obviously its a running battle between defences and aircraft but the aircraft can always zoom out of range and come in from another direction. Plus flares and DIRCM help.

An ICV too faces RPG and ATGM threats that are denser than MANPADs. Active countermeasures are not widely available. And nor are they able to exit and enter by choice like an aircraft or helicopter would.

Check out the sheer number of AAC bases and flights here that have silently grown over the last two decades. The Dhruv has enabled that

https://www.scramble.nl/planning/orbats ... india-army
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by sankum »

Future helicopter fleet of IA.
LUH: 259
Dhruv : 107
Rudra: 78
LCH: 97
IMRH: 100
Apache: 39
Total: 680
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by sankum »

Future helicopter fleet of IAF
LUH: 125
Dhruv: 60
Rudra: 16
Apache: 22
LCH: 65
Chinook: 15
Mi26: 3
Mi17: 220+ ( In future 200 IMRH)
Total: 526

By 2040 combined Mi17/IMRH fleet may be 320+ and total fleet 620+
Last edited by sankum on 17 Oct 2020 15:58, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by sankum »

Ground armoured forces will remain as it is.
Helicopter mobile forces will be supplement.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by KSingh »

sankum wrote:Future helicopter fleet of IAF
LUH: 125
Dhruv: 60
Rudra: 16
Apache: 22
LCH: 65
Chinook: 15
Mi26: 3
Mi17: 220+ ( In future 200 IMRH)
Total: 526

By 2040 combined Mi17/IMRH fleet may be 320+ and total fleet 620+
As AAC expands the justification for the IAF having such a large helicopter fleet is becoming negated


At this point without fail they are inducting IDENTICAL types and in comparable quantities, the dual Apache fleet is just the cherry on top.


The IAF's remit is strategic, the AAC (like US army aviation) is about serving the soldier on the ground and meeting the needs of battlefield commanders. As such 100s of Mi-17s /IMRH with the IAF makes NO sense whatsoever, better for all medium lift helos to be transferred to the AAC, a consolidated IMRH fleet of 300-400 under AAC will utterly transform the very nature of India's war fighting capabilities.


The Apache question was settled when MoD acquiesced to the toddler like protests of IA and IAF HQs and like any bad parent let both children have their own toys. There was *some* justification to the IAF's request for Apaches for the DEAD/SEAD role but really it's feeble at best and the biggest absurdity is that like the Mi-35s they replace when they are deployed in-theatre they will be under the C&C of the army anyway.


IAF should maintain only strategic helo assets like specialist CSAR/SAR birds (so the Rudra can stay, a few modified IMRH also and if they really need the some LCH for escorts) and a fleet of LUHs for utility/vip movement transport seems fair but beyond that their vast holdings of rotary wing assets seems entirely redundant going forward. The vast majority of the current IAF Chetaks/Cheetah/Mi-17s are employed in directly supporting the army anyway.


The Chinooks make sense to retain with the IAF also although in due course the army will need their own heavy lift assets.



It probably doesn't make sense to transfer over existing assets at this point, just let them "age out" aka retire and not be replaced meanwhile the AAC raises their own units in parallel. The Cheetaks/Cheetahs will all be gone within the next 7-10 years anyway, the Mi-17s have another 10-15 years of life left in them minimum so let the IMRH be a 100% army project and the 17s drawn out of service gradually.


+ obviously VVIP airlift will still be a IAF responsibility so they will have the IMRH for that role and also for CSAR where they can work with HAL to create a specialist version aka HH-60G.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by ramana »

KSingh Do you want IAF to be merged into IA!
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by Jaeger »

I totally back KSingh here. IA should be sole custodian of helos. IAF can have for CSAR/SpecOps etc. IMVHO, of course.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by fanne »

One another way to look at it is this - IAF has lost it's CAS assets (Mig 27) and there is no replacement in sight. The platform it has can do CAS but most likely they will be used for interdiction, strategic bombing, theater level tactical bombing (massing of troops and vehicle). They have themselves made it clear through repeated and numerous publication that they don't want to be extended artillery for IA, it's too risky, besides IA can fulfill these through various means like artillery (but artillery is a area weapon, with Excalibur or other smart munitions it has some limited choices)...
BUT
IA will face tactical situation where small band of enemy is few meters to kilometers away and greatly impending IA war objective. Of course IA men can charge and will charge at the enemy (WW1) style, these obstacles are best taken care by airborne units - either CAS airplanes or Helis. Since IA cannot have CAS planes, at least let them have attack helicopter so that they can take care of these tactical, very close, enemies. I think the kind of war we are going to fight, we need some CAS airplanes. It's ok for US (it has A-10, still not retired) or Russia (SU25) (or even China) to not have one, they are mostly fighting expeditionary war, where enemy is far, will be subdued first and later the main force will move in. Plus they still maintain big Combat Heli presence for this reason.
IA needs CAS. Either they should get adequate Heli or IAF have dedicated CAS planes (which btw would be the most risky job in IAF, but hey it will be equally or perhaps more riskier for the IA folks).
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by Rakesh »

https://twitter.com/singhshwetabh71/sta ... 92675?s=20 ---> An old picture of ALH WSI before delivery.

Image
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by Vivek K »

There seem to be 3 ALH-WSI (Rudras). How many are delivered thus far?
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by sankum »

Nearly all 78 nos to IA and 16 nos to IAF have been produced. Few number may be left to be produced. Many are reported to be still at HAL waiting delivery.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by brar_w »

fanne wrote:(but artillery is a area weapon, with Excalibur or other smart munitions it has some limited choices)
Excalibur, Excalibur S (demo), PGK, LR-PGK and others have proven that Artillery is no longer just an area weapon but capable of short-medium ranged precision strike with adequate ISR or boots on the ground. It has become a viable option for both CAS and SEAD. You can hit a pin point target from more than 65 km away, or hit a moving target at beyond 50 km. Soon this will be in the 70-100 km range class for both. Heck newer generation rounds have even intercepted cruise missiles in tests and fire-and forget moving target capability is probably a near term viable option. So things have and are going to change very very fast in how artillery is employed, at what ranges (with what accuracy) and supporting what missions.

On a per engagement and capability acquisition basis, it is far easier and affordable to field and sustain a magazine of low to mid thousands of these munitions (provided one has adequate number of guns and the ability to move them as needed) than field a dedicated CAS fleet (though they are absolutely not be mutually exclusive). Not to mention faster as well as far fielding a capability is concerned. The A-10 with its gun is not a survivable platform. And CAS does not necessarily mean being low (close there refers to blue and red forces being in close proximity to each other). So if something like an A-10, or Su-25 are relegated to stand-off launch of PGM's (which would be the suitable weapons in a danger close situation) then the cost-equation is going to quickly favor the Excalibur type weapons (though they are not mutually exclusive as I mentioned).
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by fanne »

Yes, with march of technology, even Artillery, Mortar rounds will become intelligent and the range will increase. However, heli/airplane borne weapon have one advantage (and many disadvantages as well) over these land based system - they are mobile, can be brought to a theater very fast and can go longer distance (as they are already airborne with the relative velocity of the aircraft) and perhaps attack from an axis that is more advantageous (and hopefully the enemy position acquiring unit is not separate, but integrated with the Heli/airplane). For now, I would take a mix of ground based Excalibur (currently deployed), ATGM (large 2nd generation rounds deployed, 3rd generation in induction, some NAG/Spike deployed), with Heli borne SANT/Spike (Hellfire with AH-64 already deployed), long distance MBRL (intelligent round still few years away).
As technology marches, depending on what advances further, one can do away with either ground based asset (if air borne assets become cheap - e.g. SAAW as costly as a Excalibur round or perhaps cheaper with a pin point accuracy and range of say 250 km) or air based (if Excalibur round themselves can travel 100 km and are also cheap). I suspect both are going to happen and both of these asset class will be in demand in near future (+10-20 years at least).
A 60 KM spike (SANT/NAG will also get there) is being rumored, 25KM is as announced on wiki. These are good missile for Tibet front. Chinese are on relatively exposed plateau (us more in the Himalayan mountain), except in Depsang and other positions, we are also in the plains/plateau and they have to cover 100 km or so from G-219 or staging bases to the front line. They have multiple axis of advance (which complicates our options), but they have to run all that in Tanks, IFV, heavy vehicle, light vehicle....good targets for Excalibur, SANT, NAG, spike. If we extend that range to 60 km (or 100 km), we can start targeting them right from the staging area.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by Rakesh »

Vivek K wrote:There seem to be 3 ALH-WSI (Rudras). How many are delivered thus far?
In the picture, I think I can see a fourth ALH-WSI. Parked on the right of an Army ALH (in green camo).

Sankum's reply to your query makes the jingo in me khush :)

Not sure what is causing the delay in delivery.
brar_w
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by brar_w »

fanne wrote:Yes, with march of technology, even Artillery, Mortar rounds will become intelligent and the range will increase.
Not "will become", but "have become". These things (Excalibur and PGK) have been employed in actual conflict by the thousands already. Likewise, loitering munitions "in a backpack" are also in service. Guided mortars likewise, have seen combat.
However, heli/airplane borne weapon have one advantage (and many disadvantages as well) over these land based system - they are mobile, can be brought to a theater very fast and can go longer distance (as they are already airborne with the relative velocity of the aircraft) and perhaps attack from an axis that is more advantageous (and hopefully the enemy position acquiring unit is not separate, but integrated with the Heli/airplane).
Of course. That's why I mentioned that they are not mutually exclusive. Just that, what was once the almost exclusive domain of fixed and rotary winged air-power (danger close CAS, and SEAD) is no longer the case. And as the "cost" imposition on airpower supplying this capability rises, the cost to deliver the effects will naturally increase (what is the cost difference between a 8-10 km ranged CAS weapon vs a 25-30 km CAS weapon and its associated sensor suite enablers?) hence making other forms of delivering the effects look even more attractive (where applicable). When those chess pieces begin moving it then begins to have knockdown impact on things like training, doctrine,

For reference on the "cost imposition", see THIS.

For many missions, and in many situations, those making decisions now have practical, and perfectly reasonably trades they can make. Where these things work, you can trade one capability for another from an investment perspective. So if you can't build a fleet of A-10 like aircraft in short order, (because of high CAPEX, high OPEX, logistics and training/manpower issues) then you can more easily build up an inventory of 155mm guns and a large PGK/Excalibur magazine, loitering munitions, and simpler and cheaper ISR capability.
fanne wrote:A 60 KM spike (SANT/NAG will also get there) is being rumored, 25KM is as announced on wiki.
Spike name applies to different weapons. The NLOS is a very different class of missiles. However, when you begin pushing the boundaries of these ranges with these systems you begin to rub against the TTT requirements. The US Army has an interesting long range SO helo deployed weapon program (LRPM) currently with a fairly aggressive TTT requirement (which is dictated by an operational need to hit at >40km, with a sub 90kg weapon (AUR+cannister weight) in sub 90s TOF). The "shoot off" event is just a year or two away. Let's see if the Spike NLOS or Brimstone types can meet that requirement. If not it will likely require a new class of weapon so will be interesting from the global and Indian AH-64E fleet modernization perspective down the road. But whatever that is, it won't be cheap like a hellfire. In fact even there, the need to go multi-mode seekers has driven cost up even in the 10 km range class.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by Vips »

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to begin light chopper production soon.
"The acceptance of necessity for the first 12 helicopters is being approved. Once the order is placed, we will be in the position to deliver all of them within 28 months as the production facilities are already in place,” :roll:
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by nachiket »

The time from AON being approved to the actual order being signed can be long. Look at the the state of the LCH. Initial order size being 12 is also a complete joke on the same lines as the initial order of the LCH being 15 yet taking months to negotiate a price for them.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by Philip »

As far as helos go,light and med., in the future HAL should be able to provide around 75% of the IAF/IAs reqs. Naval helos are more sophisticated than those land-based requiring not just intricate folding rotors,tails,etc.,but also specialised radars and avionics for maritime warfare,with ease of maintenance aboard in the confined spaces of a ship's hangar. Heavy lift helos like Chinooks,MI-26Ts will have to be imported as well as finalising the contours of the KA226 LUH.the numbers,approx. 300 to 400 LUHs reqd. by all services and our low prod. rate by HAL ,require both types.

Apart from attack helos and its share of LUHs and med.MI-17s, the balance is better in IAF control ,who have better facilities for training and maintaining helos than the IA. Another point,attack helos take heavy losses due to massed anti-air defences,both gun and missile. In all recent intl. conflicts there have been heavy helo losses to ground fire and 70% of all IAF aircraft/ helo losses in our wars due to ground fire.

The absence of the MIG-27 will be felt.There is a req. for a light attack/ trainer type like the YAK130 or its Italian clone to fill the gap. These are cheaper than v.expensive Apaches ,LCHs far cheaper than Apaches, the fixed wing birds being more survivable too. Armed Hawk was rejected as being too expensive. The cost-effective,survivability factor of light close-support aircraft both jet and turboprop like Tucanos as against attack helos need to be examined.Drones/ UCAVs have payload limitations too,but are needed in some measure.A holistic approach needs to taken for the same.The IA is better off handling battlefield assets for seamless integration with armour and land forces.
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Re: Indian Military Helicopters

Post by Bharadwaj »

nachiket wrote:The time from AON being approved to the actual order being signed can be long. Look at the the state of the LCH. Initial order size being 12 is also a complete joke on the same lines as the initial order of the LCH being 15 yet taking months to negotiate a price for them.
This is the standard process. The AON allows HAL one foot in the door and potentially blocks any desperation emergency imports. This is a new chopper and the forces may want to see it in operations for sometime before placing the full order. Granted this is something that does not happen for imports. The tone of the article suggests HAL is pushing for the LUH getting all the orders as opposed to split with Kamov. The article is confident they will undercut price wise.
Last edited by Bharadwaj on 13 Nov 2020 15:36, edited 1 time in total.
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