Tuesday, March 15, 2016
By: Darshil Patel - DefenceNews

India's LCH broke records, when it flew at one of the worlds highest landing bases located in Siachen with a decent weapons payload. The attack helicopter scaled an altitude of 4.8 kms from sea level to one of th most remote, inhospitable environment known to human beings.

The Light Combat Helicopter is the first attack helicopter to have ever landed on a Forward Landing Base at Siachen with a 400kg payload.

The chopper has completed all performance trials and is now heading towards Final Operational Clearance (FOC).

HAL which is responsible for the development of this helicopter has made 4 prototypes which together have clocked more than 600 test flights. The helicopter can be integrated with different weapon payloads. The weapons can vary depending on the requirement of the Air Force, Navy and Army.

The LCH has finished all weather trials and has performed exceptionally well. It is the only helicopter in the world that can operate at an altitude at 10 to 20,000 feet with a significant amount of weapons payload and is the first attack helicopter in the world to land at Siachen.

The attack helicopter features an electro-optical pod, night flying capabilities, rocket launcher, turret gun and air-to-air missiles. Further development activities are under way on the LCH to make it even more lethal. More weapon firing exercises are planned during the middle of 2016.

The LCH was specifically developed in response to the lack of an attack helicopter that is capable of performing high altitude combat operations during the 1999 Kargil war.

The Indian Army's Army Aviation Corp has ordered 114 helicopters and the Indian Air Force have ordered 65. This number could swell to 180 LCH given that the Army wants to deploy the new helicopter to all its 13 corp and other formations.

Apart from the Indian Armed Forces, some other countries including Japan have shown keen interest in buying the LCH given its success in high altitude combat and performance.

This is an opportunity for India to open all closed doors and allow global investors to manufacture indigenous heavy weapons here in India.

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This article has been written by Darshil Patel exclusively for www.DefenceNews.in
Bsc. in CASFX - U.K.
Location : Mumbai

Source:
http://www.defencenews.in/article/Japan-wants-to-buy-Indias-LCH-that-broke-world-records-3545

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