Military operations crippled as ALHs continue to remain grounded

NEW DELHI: It’s a double whammy for the armed forces. Already grappling with the high crash rate and low serviceability of their 350 obsolete single-engine Cheetah and Chetak choppers, the prolonged grounding of the around 330 twin-engine `Dhruv’ advanced light helicopters (ALHs) has majorly hit military operations and preparedness.
The armed forces bank heavily on the multi-role ALHs for ‘sustenance flights’ to forward areas and posts along the unresolved borders with China and Pakistan as well as for observation and reconnaissance, search and rescue missions. “All have suffered major disruptions for over three months now. ALH pilots are also losing flying currency, and forced to make do with simulators,” a senior officer told TOI.
The most affected is the over 11.5-lakh strong Army, which has a fleet of over 180 ALHs, including 60 weaponized versions called `Rudra’, manufactured by defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL).
The IAF, in turn, has 75 ALHs, while Navy 24 and Coast Guard 19. The 5.5-tonne ALHs have been military workhorses since their induction began in 2002, with the choppers in the Army alone clocking around 40,000 hours of flying in 2023-24.
The grounding of all the ALHs, ever since a crash killed two Coast Guard pilots and an aircrew diver in Porbandar on Jan 5, has also compounded the long-standing problem of huge shortfalls in rotary-wing birds.
The armed forces, in fact, have projected a requirement of over 1,000 new choppers of different types over the next 10-15 years, including 484 light utility helicopters (LUH) in the 3.5-tonne class and 419 Indian multi-role helicopters (IMRH) in the 10-15-tonne class. But there has been huge delays in these projects being executed by HAL.
These new choppers are in addition to the 156 `Prachand’ light combat helicopters (Army 90, IAF 66) that have to be delivered in the 2028-2033 timeframe under the Rs 62,700 crore deal inked with HAL last month.
A small silver lining in the overall grim situation has been the Army’s hiring of some civil choppers for transportation of troops and supply of logistics to remote high-altitude posts along the northern and western borders.
“The use of civil choppers was started by the Army’s Northern and Central Commands last Nov due to the huge shortage of helicopters. If that had not been done, it would have become extremely tough to supply troops deployed in forward locations after the grounding of ALHs,” an officer said.
Under this first-ever outsourcing of logistical support, the Army has inked contracts worth over Rs 70 crore with Pawan Hans, Himalayan Heli Services, Global Vectra, and Thumby Aviation for airlift of over 1,000 tonne of supplies from mid-Nov to mid-July. Till now, these civil choppers have flown over 1,500 hours to deliver about 900 tonne in Kargil, Gurez, Kishtwar, Garhwal and Himachal sectors, among others.
“They proved a boon for soldiers deployed in over 30 remote posts in high altitude areas of Himalayas in J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand especially after the ALH fleet was grounded. The Army plans to begin this soon in the eastern sector as well,” the officer said.
The use of civil helicopters for such logistical tasks also helps preserve the operational service life of military helicopters for more critical roles during conflicts or emergencies.
The ALHs, of course, need to take to the skies again soon. HAL, however, is yet to conclusively establish the “root cause” behind the “swashplate fracture” in the ill-fated helicopter that made the Coast Guard pilots lose control of their flying machine over three months ago. Safety checks have found signs of similar material failures in some other ALHs, officials said.
“ALHs have been grounded three-four times for safety checks after crashes in recent years. This time, the entire process should be thorough and transparent without any patchwork solutions. Precious lives and operational preparedness, after all, cannot be put at risk,” an experienced military pilot said.