Abingdonboy
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2010
- Messages
- 29,597
- Reaction score
- 46
- Country
- Location
The ASW helicopter procurement might be slow, because there is no urgend need of numbers at the moment. IN has not that high numbers of Frigats so far, that additional helis would be needed, INS Viraat is more often in the dock, than in operational service at sea and the INS Jalashwa is a vessel, that will be deployed into service only in specific times. For the future with more vessels and carriers, of course the number must be much higher, that's why I also hope for a Dhruv version as the prime ASW heli on IN and ICG vessels, while LDPs would needs bigger, or longer range helicopters.
Didn't the IN reject the Dhruv in ASW configuration? And weren't there some serious issues with lack of automatic rotor folding mechanism- which I don't think was fixed and it seems the Dhruv has been forced on the IN who have only accepted it reluctantly in small numbers in a utility role. I don't think the Dhruv is often deployed on INS operating beyond Indian shores. And how many do ICG operate?