LCH TD-2 makes a silent maiden flight; incorporates many new features

[angeldemon_007]

The second technology demonstrator (TD-2) of India’s Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) took to the skies for the first time on June 28 in Bangalore.
"On June 28, the pilots did some very limited manoeuvres, though not much was experimented. The maiden flight was limited to low-speed testing. They (pilots) will now take the platform and fly over the runway to check the endurance and eventually will expand the full envelope. The designers, engineers and pilots are all delighted by this significant development,” the official said.
“The pilots (Unni Pillai & Hari Nair) have given some observations and we are working on the same. These are development flights and we will address all the teething problems that arise,” the official added
Meanwhile, an insider said that LCH TD-2 boasts of lots of new features as compared to TD-1. “Lots of new systems are onboard. The platform is lighter and we have modified the gearbox. Even the tail-rotor control system is different. The doors for the pilots have been modified for better structural clearance. The cockpit remains the same and we are constantly modifying the chopper based on the inputs from the pilots,” she said.
She also added that the TD-1 has completed 70 hours of flying so far and the TD-3 will be very closer to the production version, incorporating some more changes. “Any new project is a huge challenge for us. With so much stigma attached to the Helicopter Division in the past, we are happy that LCH is gifting us some inspiring moments now. This is years of hard work and we are all happy that finally things are moving,” she said.
When asked why HAL chose to be silent on the first flight of LCH TD-2, an insider said: "We are used to it now." HAL's chopper complex in-charge P.S. Rajan was not available for any comment.
The LCH TD-2 was the main draw at Aero India 2011 wrapped in digital camouflage paint -- a technology mastered by India recently. Incidentally, LCH will be the first Indian Air Force asset to don this new paint scheme.
Three cheers to all engineers, designers, test pilots and youngsters associated with LCH programme! Good job by teams lead by Srinath, Sampath and Unni!

Tarmak007 -- A bold blog on Indian defence: LCH TD-2 makes a silent maiden flight; platform incorporates lots of new features

 

[marcos98]

LCH is pure awesomeness.
Sad they didn't released pics.

Anyways we will have them later i guess, can't wait for this beauty to start weapons trial...

 

[RoYaL~GuJJaR]

Awesome News...

 

[forcetrip]

Looks real menacing. But digital paint? what exactly is that for?

 

[AvidSpice]

Looks real menacing. But digital paint? what exactly is that for?

Digital camouflage (or "digicam") is a pattern devised by using small micropatterns, as opposed to larger macropatterns for effective disruption. The theory is that large blotches of color with sharp outlines are easier to see, while "blurring" the edges of the colored patches makes the outlines, and thus the objects, harder to discern. The name is referring to the coordinates of the pattern, which are digitally defined, as well as the set of colors used. Most non-digital camouflage patterns, although also consisting of a digital color set, do not use digital coordinates. From 1978 to the early 1980s, the American 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment stationed in Europe used a digital camouflage pattern (dual-tex) on its vehicles. During 1979 and 1980, the Australian Army experimented with digital camouflage (dual-tex) on helicopters.[citation needed]
More recently, battledress in digital camouflage patterns has been adopted by the Canadian Forces (who pioneered the design, which bears similarities to the Bundeswehr's (Flecktarn), the United States Marine Corps (MARPAT), the military of Jordan (KA2 series), United States Army (Universal Camouflage Pattern), the United States Air Force (Airman Battle Uniform), the Philippine National Police Special Action Force, the Philippine Marine Corps, the Philippine Army, the National Army of Colombia (Patriota), the Ecuadorian Army, the Peruvian Army (PACIPAT), the Guatemalan Army Special Operations Brigade, the Italian Army (Vegetato), Estonian Defence Forces (ESTDCU), the Iraqi National Police, the Croatian Army, the Military of Latvia (NBS2006), the Finnish Defence Forces (M05), China Armed Police Force (Type 05) and Chinese People's Liberation Army (Type 07), the Turkish Armed Forces (UCP like has 7 colors), Serbian Army and Police (M-10) and (DMDU-03), Kuwaiti Army (KAPAT), Russian Federation Army (SURPAT, Pixel Flora, and KSOR Digital), Royal Thai Armed Forces, the Indonesian Army Batalyon Raiders, Mexican Armed Forces (SEDENA-08 Types A, B C, and D), the Lebanese Airborne Regiment and the Lebanese Navy SEALs Regiment, Singapore Armed Forces (woodland and arid), and the Yemeni Internal Security Forces.[citation needed] The South Korean Army possibly around August 2006, already adopted a digital camouflage pattern that is somewhat similar to the USMC's MARPAT—it is currently being supplied to Special Warfare Command units. Meanwhile, they are going to introduce another digital camo scheme for regular units very soon. The German, Danish, and Japanese military today use camouflage that involves dots (flecktarn) instead of pixelated patterns. Presently, the digital camouflage for personal clothing is being actively evaluated by some other countries, e.g. Austria, Poland, and Spain.


Military camouflage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Firemaster]

Any increase in payload capacity and speed?

 

[SQ8]

I wanna see with retract gears, weapon bay doors.. faceting.. etc..

God I miss the Comanche..

 

[blackops]

I wanna see with retract gears, weapon bay doors.. faceting.. etc..

God I miss the Comanche..

Same here but i doubt they will release the pics soon

 

[pari.mehta]

Lovely to hear this thing is flying. hopefully we can get a bunch of production lines opened up soon to induct this super fast.
Also shouldnt we go with a greyish paint to reduce probability of being spotted while in the air? Or is digicam good for that too?

my uneducated guess would be that this would be used to compliment tank formations so it would be close to the border making it prone to first strike.
but im not sure

 

[MrIndianSikh]

LCH will be good for the IAF and Indian army this could be the dagger going into the Naxalite insurgency's back (if it is used against them)

 

[xataxsata]

It will be the sword of Indian army an edge over china.

 

[angeldemon_007]

Any increase in payload capacity and speed?

Payload of LCH is way better than others. It is lighter but still it can carry alot. Don't worry it can carry more weapons than it is carrying right now. Also i hope we also include Fire Control Radar in LCH.

 

[Night_Raven]

Guys, any final decision made on the ATGM on LCH ?

Would it be HELINA or any intermediate solutions like Spike , Hellfire , PARS-3LR ?

 

[DarK-LorD]

Hope LCH will be inducted next year.

 

[marcos98]

Any increase in payload capacity and speed?

The stated speed and payload will remain same.
Every subsequent prototype is lighter than the predecessor by few hundreds of kilos.