ALH Dhruv choppers have been grounded for over two months after a crash involving Indian Coast Guard officers in Porbandar, affecting troop movement in counter-terror operations.
Indigenous fighter aircraft Tejas will also not be featured in Republic Day parade. The 40 aircraft that will participate include 22 fighters, 11 transport aircraft & 7 helicopters.
Delegation visited Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd’s facilities this week, days after its maiden international air show. It is rumoured the African country is also going in for Chinese J-10s.
Three of these indigenous Advanced Light Helicopters have crashed since March, forcing military to ground fleet twice. Choppers flying again but parts being changed, it is learnt.
Review by committee set up by Centre for Military Airworthiness & Certification found no design flaw, but metallurgical issues & maintenance problems at the service level, it is learnt.
The crash took place days after ALH fleet was cleared for flying again after back-to-back crashes involving Dhruv helicopters in use by Navy & Coast Guard.
Platforms such as INS Vikrant, LCH Prachand & ALH Dhruv aren't exclusively made in India and do rely on imports, which is a reality even for major defence producers such as US.
Over the last two decades 18 to 22 incidents involving the ALH Dhruv have been reported. Experts say the malaise in the ALH fleet could be related to design & engineering issues.
The weapon system integrated helicopter has no role over water. Lt Col AS Batth and young Capt Jayant Joshi had nothing going for them, materially or training-wise.
Incident brings back memories of 1963 crash that claimed lives of five top Indian military commanders, and led to new protocols regarding top officers flying in the same chopper.
Piyush was about celebration—of life, of people, of stories. He believed that what we create can shape popular culture, can make people feel proud of who they are.
Rosneft, the Russian state-owned oil behemoth, has large interests in India. Reliance has a contract to purchase 500,000 barrels of crude per day from the firm.
Fresh details of operation conducted by IAF, Army have come out in gazette notification giving citations of those who were awarded Vir Chakra for their bravery.
On 21 Oct, a buzz went up that the govt had released full list of gallantry award recipients along with Op Sindoor citations. I put an AI caddy on the job. It took me into a never-ending rabbit hole.
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