The issue with the crash landing of the Army Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH)-MKIII on May 4 was not related to the control rods, unlike in earlier cases, but a different problem which is still being ascertained, it has been learnt. Meanwhile, the Army has grounded its ALH fleet once again for precautionary checks following the incident.
“The fleet has been grounded as a precaution as required checks are being carried out,” a defence source said. In this case, it was not the control rods, but some other issue, the source stated.
The three services and the Coast Guard had all grounded their ALH fleets after a Navy ALH-MkIII was ditched at sea on March 8, 2023, followed by a Coast Guard ALH also suffering an incident. The entire fleet was put through extensive checks by teams from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), and only a few batches were recently cleared to fly.
Critical design issue
As reported by The Hindu, senior defence officials said that the recent inquiry pointed to a critical design issue with the control rods, which has been the reason for several incidents in the past as well.
Paramilitary personnel gather at the site where an ALH Dhruv Mark 3 helicopter of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) met with an accident near main runway during the chopper testing, at Cochin International Airport, in Kochi. | Photo Credit: ANI
Among the others, while the Navy ALH continue to remain grounded, the IAF and Coast Guard have a small batch of the helicopters flying, officials said. The ALH fleet of the IAF which have undergone the checks instituted by HAL after the Navy and Coast Guard incidents in March are continuing with operations, IAF sources said, adding that the helicopters which are undergoing these checks will be cleared for flying after completion.
Also, the IAF has taken no fresh decision with regard to flying the ALH following the incident last week. The situation with the Coast Guard is also the same.
Checks duration reduced
As reported earlier, the mean time for checks for the helicopter, which was originally 600 hours has been brought down to 300 hours, and it has been learnt that it has been further brought down to between 100 and 150 hours of flying.
There are around 300 ALH of different variants flying with the three services and the Coast Guard, which include the Mk1, Mk2, Mk3 and the Mk4, also called the Rudra Weapon System Integrated. The Army operates over 145 indigenous ALH, 75 of which are Rudra, while another 25 ALH Mk-III are on order and scheduled to be inducted over the next two years. The Air Force has over 70 ALH, the Navy 18 ALH and the Coast Guard 20 ALH in service.
In the latest incident on May 4, one Army technician was killed and two pilots injured after an ALH on an operational mission made a hard landing on the banks of the Marua river in the Kishtwar region of Jammu and Kashmir.
