Light Utility Helicopter: News & Discussion: 06 Feb 2021

[Avinandan]

Going OT and probably this discussion could be taken for a new thread for Rotor craft uavs.

IMHO, for transport VTOL, it is preferable to have Chinook style tandem rotorcraft UAVs.

India already has some headaway with Tactical UAV (payload 20 Kgs) called Sabal 50

China already fields heavy UAV (payload 650 kgs) called Boying T1400.

https://defencenewsindia.in/sabal-50-he ... e_vignette


https://www.scmp.com/news/china/militar ... est-flight

[Manish_P]

...

IMHO, for transport VTOL, it is preferable to have Chinook style tandem rotorcraft UAVs.
...

+1 Agree on the more power/payload requirements. We will hopefully have multiples projects to cover the spectrum.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of Tandem Rotors vs Co-axial ones?

[Cybaru]

All said and done the real capacity is how many IA is willing to deploy - if we get a 100-200 kg variant and IA agrees to buy 1000-3000 of them, then thats supply chain at forward / high altitude bases that cannot be matched. Thats the key.

Converting old Cheetah / cheetaks for supply line use as autonomous makes a lot of sense. There is enough life left in them. Scrapping them would be stupid if they can be used in unmanned roles all along the forward areas.

[Manish_P]

OT perhaps or a tangent, but I have a feeling the Indian private sector (Logistics, Infrastructure etc) will buy Indian made drones and give a vital boost to the fledgling Indian drone ecosystem. The forces might come in big after.

[uddu]

https://x.com/i/status/2049028158498726043
@DefProdnIndia
Forging the future of India’s aerial strength

The Light Utility Helicopter (#LUH), developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (#HAL), stands as a testament to indigenous innovation engineered to replace legacy fleets with precision, agility, and reliability. With a top speed of 220 km/h, a service ceiling of 6.5 km, and an operational range of 350 km, it is built to perform where it matters most.

More than just a machine, LUH represents a strategic leap towards self-reliance and operational excellence

[SRajesh]

Any Movement of these yet.
When will the Army replace the Cheetah and Chetak helicopters!!
Another crash today
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/def ... 272590.cms
Fortunately all survived including the GOC!

[Prem Kumar]

Army Chiefs have blood of their men on their hands!

LUH won't be ordered but they will allow their boys to die in aging Cheetahs/Chetaks

[putnanja]

WHat is holding up the production? I thought a few were already ready for hand-over? Did the 175 order finally get signed or not? What is blocking it?

Both LUH and LCH are still not being ordered in the numbers required for the forces. What is the issue?

[ashthor]

It will only come after we order the foreign H125. Till then desi maal are not good enough.

[putnanja]

Today's article by Shiv Aroor

3 Months 0 Flights, HAL’s LUH Descends To Limbo

Livefist has learnt that the HAL LUH has not flown even once in nearly three months and has barely lifted off over the last year. One of India’s most important helicopter programmes is effectively sitting still.

The reasons are as depressingly familiar as they are opaque. Differences between HAL, certification authorities like CEMILAC and RCMA, and the Army itself have reportedly produced a deadlock over testing standards, certification observations, operational expectations and compliance parameters. In any mature aviation ecosystem, disagreements during development are normal. In India, however, such disagreements have a unique ability to metastasise into paralysis. The LUH is the latest victim of this.

Remember, paralysis is a dangerous luxury for an Army that flies daily in the Himalayas.

....

Which is why uncomfortable questions now hover over the LUH programme. It remains unclear whether the current freeze reflects purely technical disagreements during testing, or whether the long shadow of the prolonged scrutiny surrounding the Dhruv programme has infected decision-making around the LUH as well, given that the newer helicopter inevitably derives certain design philosophies and engineering lineage from HAL’s broader rotary-wing ecosystem.

Whatever the explanation, the bottom line remains brutally simple. The HAL LUH, once hailed as the great indigenous answer to one of India’s oldest military aviation problems, has tasted the air over Siachen but now sits largely idle in a hangar, while ageing legacy helicopters continue flying dangerous missions over the Himalayas and continue placing Indian Army personnel, including Division Commanders, at unnecessary risk.