New Delhi: State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which boasts of an order book worth Rs 1.84 lakh crore, has gone on an offensive against what it labels as “armchair critics with malicious intent,” following a crash involving one of its helicopters.
Its sharp response to critical reports and opinion pieces has triggered a backlash, with some observers reminding the aerospace giant that criticism is not the enemy—rather sycophancy is.
The aviation major is upset with reports and analysis of the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv crash in Porbandar which has led to the grounding of the entire copter fleet by Army, Navy, Air Force and the Coast Guard, subject to fault finding and fixing the issue.
It is learnt that the investigators are yet to determine the root cause of the accident in which two Indian Coast Guard pilots and an aircrew diver were killed in January. The grounding of the fleet is a setback for the Services and the Coast Guard, who together operate around 330 of these work horses.
“HAL would like to bring to the notice of all its stakeholders, media & all forms of publications – online, print, websites, blogs, social & digital media platforms etc. that of late, ever since the unfortunate accident of ALH operated by the Indian Coast Guard in January, speculative and stories with malicious intentions on HAL are being written and published on these platforms.
“These stories are authored by so-called Defence analysts, former pilots, officers of the Defence Forces and arm-chair critics,” HAL said in a series of posts on ‘X’, adding that these stories are written without offering its perspective, and arguments are one-sided and biased.
“There are inaccuracies and references to outdated issues that have long been resolved by HAL by taking its customers into confidence. HAL cannot respond to or comment on all these reports one-on-one due to the sensitive nature of Defence issues and products,” it said.
The state-run entity said these stories “can harm the interests of HAL’s stakeholders and therefore, this statement is being filed to protect the interests of all our stakeholders from being influenced by unwarranted and speculative stories”.
Former naval aviator and test pilot Commander K P Sanjeev Kumar (retired) responded to HAL on ‘X’, saying that the interests of stakeholders are best served “if you welcome criticism, work with greater transparency, stop shooting messengers & hallucinating about malafide intent”.
“Your worst critic is not your enemy; just as a sycophant is not your best friend. Learn to differentiate,” he added.
Kumar wrote that way back in 2020, when former Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash (retired) had critiqued the HAL, it had “dismissed it with a caustic remark that “easy for retired persons to talk & give endless commentary”.
“HAL is fortunate to get the shielding it does from MoD/DDP. Any other company with competition would’ve shuttered by now. Independent journalists & small media houses in Seattle brought Boeing to heel. You’re a blackhole for facts, have reporters parroting your briefs. Yet you complain?”
The former Navy pilot had written an article on the crash on his blog which was later republished by ThePrint.
Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai (retired), a naval helicopter aviator, said HAL’s media release isn’t a clarification, “it’s a classic case of institutional gaslighting. Deflect the criticism. Discredit the critics. Dodge the issues”.
“The statement labels defence analysts, ex-pilots, and service officers as ‘so-called experts’ and ‘arm-chair critics.’ Translation: If you’re not toeing our line, your experience doesn’t count,” he added.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Cause of Porbandar chopper crash identified, Dhruv fleet to stay grounded at least 3 more weeks
Military personnel with no educational qualifications in design and development of defence platforms, should mandatorily mention their qualification & admit their lack of academic understanding of the issues as a disclaimer whenever they critic a piece of indigenously produced defence equipment.
ALH should renamed as advanced flop helicopter.