HAL Tejas | Updates, News & Discussions

[Dark Angel]

test pictures are not out yet

 

[desiman]

exactly in one week as i had said before Pics will be up shortly on the Modernizing Indian armed forces thread. Waiting on email from India

 

[Arik]

Does any one have pics of the real bird ,i am sick of seeing the mockups.

 

[Justin Joseph]

Congratulations to all Indians. And thank you WebMaster and Pakistani friends for your gesture.

One more step in the journey of indigenisation, great going India.

 

[prototype]

since already many nations have expressed interest in dhruv and few have purchased also

i see many international customers for lch

 

[Jun]

congrats, it looks good

 

[Dark Angel]

In what appears to be a major achievement for HAL and the Indian military aviation sector ,the country's first indigenously developed attack helicopter, the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) has made its maiden test flight. According to unconfirmed sources the LCH serial number "ZP 4601" took to skies today.
LCH will form the backbone of the Indian Air Force and Indian Army which are currently operating some 80 Soviet Era Mi-24's and Mi-35's. Both the Russian attack helicopters are getting old and obsolete and with Pakistani Air Force upgrading their American Cobra Attack helicopter their is serious gap in capabilities which LCH is supposed to fill.
LCH was undergoing extensive ground trails since February 4 and many were expecting it to take to skies in that month itself. The program was delayed for more than a year because of weight issues but its seems like most problems are solved now. The current prototype being tested is a non-weaponized version meant to test only the basic structure of the helicopter. Next two prototypes are expected to be weaponized. LCH will need many more hours of testing before it receives its final operation certificate. Both the Army and the Air Force have heavily invested in the project with 189 on order. LCH is expected to enter service by 2015.


Angle of Attack: LCH makes first flight ?

 

[sancho]

In what appears to be a major achievement for HAL and the Indian military aviation sector ,the country's first indigenously developed attack helicopter, the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) has made its maiden test flight. According to unconfirmed sources the LCH serial number "ZP 4601" took to skies today.
LCH will form the backbone of the Indian Air Force and Indian Army which are currently operating some 80 Soviet Era Mi-24's and Mi-35's. Both the Russian attack helicopters are getting old and obsolete and with Pakistani Air Force upgrading their American Cobra Attack helicopter their is serious gap in capabilities which LCH is supposed to fill.
LCH was undergoing extensive ground trails since February 4 and many were expecting it to take to skies in that month itself. The program was delayed for more than a year because of weight issues but its seems like most problems are solved now. The current prototype being tested is a non-weaponized version meant to test only the basic structure of the helicopter. Next two prototypes are expected to be weaponized. LCH will need many more hours of testing before it receives its final operation certificate. Both the Army and the Air Force have heavily invested in the project with 189 on order. LCH is expected to enter service by 2015.


Angle of Attack: LCH makes first flight ?

Now that's a good order, although I don't really understand why they still want such a small order of heavy attack helicopter then? Any idea what the unit cost could be?

 

[gubbi]

same only my opinion man . . . it only prototype i expect changes in it's landing wheel

IIRC, the landing gear is not supposed to be retractable, skimming lots of lbs off from the final TOW. I would rather they keep it that way if it does its job.
What would be interesting is to see the capabilities of this helo. Would it fly with all the munitions in rarefied air? Isnt that one of its primary objectives?

 

[Dark Angel]

Now that's a good order, although I don't really understand why they still want such a small order of heavy attack helicopter then? Any idea what the unit cost could be?

IMHO it could be at anything between 14-17 million but as the production ramps up it will go down considerably

 

[liteon]

Overall specs & shape are identical to Kazan Ansat-2RC.

 

[Tu tu]

any news about it having air refuling capabilities?

 

[aimarraul]

i thought it already made the first flight last year,congratulations anyway

 

[no_name]

any news about it having air refuling capabilities?

Do helis have air refuling capabilities?
I just thought it dangerous with that big rotor spinning

 

[Join]