Indian Army will replace Cheetah-Chetak helicopter, Apache Helicopter will join the fleet; Know their specialty
The Indian Army is preparing to field new helicopters in its military fleet. In view of the challenges of the new era, the Army has now decided to retire the multi-purpose helicopters Cheetah and Chetak, which have been the main pillars of its strategic capability for the last five decades. Their strength can be estimated from the fact that they can fly better even in inaccessible areas.
In view of the military challenges of the new era, the Army has now decided to retire the multi-purpose helicopters Cheetah and Chetak, which have been the main pillars of its strategic capability for the last five decades. The Indian Army, which has already decided to acquire the attack helicopter Apache to increase military firepower, will also strengthen its multi-role helicopter fleet.
Under this, the Army will retire all its old helicopters and add about 250 new helicopters to its aviation wing within the next 10 to 12 years. The largest contribution to the new modern helicopter fleet will be the indigenously built multirole light utility helicopter, Dhruv. In view of the new era of threats on the eastern and western borders of the country, the Army does not want to limit the air wing only to the supporting role of strategic operations but wants to further expand its role.
The issue related to the design challenges of the Dhruv manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has been resolved. Testing of autopilot is also going on in it, which will eliminate the challenges of flying in high-altitude areas. Sharing information about starting the process of retiring Cheetah and Chetak after the next three to four years, the source said that the capacity of these two helicopters has not been exhausted yet.
The cheetah has played a brilliant role in the highest, snowy, and inaccessible areas like Siachen. With the completion of the technological age, there is a need for not only attack but new multirole light helicopters to increase the firepower of the army through modernization. Around 250 helicopters will be procured, in which Dhruv will have the largest participation.
Since HAL manufactures only 30 to 35 Dhruv helicopters a year and a good number of these helicopters are to be supplied to the Indian Air Force and Navy. In such a situation, the Army will be able to get only about 10 Dhruv helicopters every year. Since the Army's emphasis is on indigenous helicopters, the option of acquiring LUHs on lease from outside for a few years has been kept open to meet the immediate requirements. In the next three to four years, both helicopters will be phased out, the capacity will not be reduced. The Army will include about 250 light combat helicopters in its fleet.
