New Delhi: A top government regulatory body, responsible for the certification of military aircraft, is undertaking a full review of the indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH Dhruv) — the key workhorse of the Indian military — following a spate of accidents.
Sources in the defence and security establishment told ThePrint that the committee set up by the Bengaluru-based Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) — which has representatives from the manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) and the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) — has already identified certain issues in the preliminary study.
CEMILAC is a regulatory body under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) that’s mandated to certify the airworthiness of military aircraft, helicopter, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), aero-engines, air launched weapons and other airborne stores.
The review comes after a spate of helicopter crashes in recent times. Three ALH have crashed since March, including one last week in which an Army technician was killed.
There have been nearly a dozen accidents involving the helicopter in the past five years. The Dhruv has been grounded for safety checks by the services following this month’s crash.
Speaking to ThePrint, the sources ruled out any design flaw in the helicopters, which has accumulated over 3 lakh hours of intense flying.
Over 300 helicopters are in service with the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Coast Guard, sources said, adding that so far, the committee has found that there is faster fatigue of certain parts.
ThePrint was the first to report in October last year that the crash of an ALH known as the Rudra in Arunachal Pradesh had occurred after the “collective”, which controls the power to the rotors and back, had broken.
Sources had then said that the Court of Inquiry (CoI) into the miraculous escape of former army Commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh in an ALH crash 2019 had occurred because of the failure of the “collective”.
The CoI found that the rod had broken in half as if someone had cut it. However, further analysis showed that the rod had high fatigue marks, as with other helicopters.
“The CEMILAC panel has found that certain parts are showing higher fatigue than what the time frame is. So this is something that one would be considering to change,” a source told ThePrint.
The source explained that if normally a particular part has a flying life of about 300 hours, then it is serviced or replaced after 300 hours.
However, if the fatigue is developing much before 300 hours, then one will have to reduce the flying life mentioned, so that necessary replacement or service can be done.
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Black box to be examined
Talking about the crashes that took place last month, sources said that prima facie it looks more of a maintenance issue at the service level than any technical defect, as initially suspected.
The sources said that the flight data recorder (FDR) of three helicopters are yet to be studied and more details will emerge after that.
FDR, or black box, is an instrument that records the performance and condition of an aircraft in flight. It’s usually investigated after an accident.
“The Dhruv is a mature platform with a design that has been proven. The issue is with certain parts which are more metallurgical in nature. Certain changes will have to be made in terms of servicing schedule,” said the source quoted above.
LCH grounded along with the ALH
Like the ALH, the indigenous Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) is also grounded, and is going through a full technical check by the armed services.
The IAF and the Army had ordered for 15 LCH last year, of which 10 were to go to the former while the army was to get five.
Defence sources said that the IAF has received five of the 10 orders and they are undergoing the same checks and balances as the ALH following Dhruv’s crashes last month.
Sources said that the LCH is also based on the ALH design and is, in fact, a derivative of it. It will likely face the same technical issues, they said.
As ThePrint reported in February, the Army is looking at procuring nearly 95 Prachand LCH for mountain warfare, as well as nearly 110 Light Utility Helicopters (LUH) to replace the aging Cheetahs and Chetaks from HAL.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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