HAL Light Utility Helicopter
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The HAL Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) along with its derivative Light Observation Helicopter (LOH) was designed and developed by Rotary Wing Research and Design Center (RWR&DC) one of the R&D sections of
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is an Indian state-owned aerospace and defence company, headquartered in Bangalore, India. Established on 23 December 1940, HAL is one of the oldest and largest aerospace and defence manufacturers in the worl ...
(HAL) for civilian and military applications. These are intended to replace license-built versions of Aérospatiale SA 315B Lama (designated Cheetah) and
Aérospatiale Alouette III The Aérospatiale Alouette III (, ''Lark''; company designations SA 316 and SA 319) is a single-engine, light utility helicopter developed by French aircraft company Sud Aviation. During its production life, it proved to be a relatively popular r ...
(designated Chetak) in service with
Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
and Indian Air Force.


Development


Background

During the 1990s and the 2000s, the procurement of a modern successor to the aging
HAL Cheetah HAL may refer to: Aviation * Halali Airport (IATA airport code: HAL) Halali, Oshikoto, Namibia * Hawaiian Airlines (ICAO airline code: HAL) * HAL Airport, Bangalore, India * Hindustan Aeronautics Limited an Indian aerospace manufacturer of fight ...
and
HAL Chetak HAL may refer to: Aviation * Halali Airport (IATA airport code: HAL) Halali, Oshikoto, Namibia * Hawaiian Airlines (ICAO airline code: HAL) * HAL Airport, Bangalore, India * Hindustan Aeronautics Limited an Indian aerospace manufacturer of fig ...
helicopters of the
Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
and the Indian Air Force had been recognised as an impending need. Multiple attempts at establishing a competitive tendering programme; one such effort specified a total of 197 utility helicopters for the Indian Army, 60 of which were to be directly purchased and the remaining 137 to be produced under licence by Indian aerospace company
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is an Indian state-owned aerospace and defence company, headquartered in Bangalore, India. Established on 23 December 1940, HAL is one of the oldest and largest aerospace and defence manufacturers in the worl ...
(HAL). However, this tender, in which the
Eurocopter Fennec The Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) AS550 Fennec (now H125M) and AS555 Fennec 2 are lightweight, multipurpose military helicopters manufactured by Eurocopter Group (now Airbus Helicopters). Based on the AS350 Ecureuil and AS355 Ecureuil 2 ...
appeared to be the frontrunner against the rival
Bell 407 The Bell 407 is a four-blade, single-engine, civil utility helicopter. A derivative of the Bell 206L-4 LongRanger, the 407 uses the four-blade, soft-in-plane design rotor with composite hub developed for the United States Army's OH-58D Kiowa W ...
, eventually ended up being cancelled in response to allegations of irregularities in the selection process; Eurocopter was subsequently investigated and exonerated of any wrongdoing.Govindasamy, Siva
"Bell Helicopter pulls out of Indian defence market."
''Flight International'', 20 November 2008.
Consequently, new
safeguard A safeguard, in international law, is a restraint on international trade or economic development to protect communities from development aggression or home industries from foreign competition. In the World Trade Organization (WTO), a member may ...
s were implemented to ensure impartiality and the replacement effort was subsequently restarted. During July 2008, the
Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...
circulated a request for proposals (RFP) to various helicopter companies, including
AgustaWestland AgustaWestland was an Anglo-Italian helicopter design and manufacturing company, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Finmeccanica (now known as Leonardo). It was formed in July 2000 as an Anglo-Italian multinational company, when Finmeccani ...
,
Bell Helicopter Bell Textron Inc. is an American aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. A subsidiary of Textron, Bell manufactures military rotorcraft at facilities in Fort Worth, and Amarillo, Texas, as well as commercial helicopters in M ...
, Eurocopter, Kamov and Sikorsky, for a fleet of 197 light utility helicopters to be purchased in a fly-away condition directly from the manufacturer in order to speed up their delivery. Intended for military purposes, the potential contract was valued as a maximum of $750 million, of which 30 per cent was required to be invested within India under the government's policy of industrial offsets; HAL was also specified as to provide domestic maintenance activities for the fleet, who were reportedly also keen to manufacture further examples locally and further develop the selected type. It had been initially hoped that trials would begin in 2009 and that helicopter deliveries could commence as early as 2010.Govindasamy, Siva
"India issues light utility helicopter request for proposals."
''Flight International'', 28 July 2008.
By late 2008, Bell had announced its decision not to participate despite earlier considerations on offering a variant of their Bell 407 helicopter; according to Bell, the high offset requirements had made any bid less feasible and thus the company chose to withdraw from the Indian military market. Rival firm
Russian Helicopters JSC Russian Helicopters (russian: Вертолёты России ''Vertolyoty Rossii'') is a helicopter design and manufacturing company headquartered in Moscow, Russia. The company designs and manufactures civilian and military helicopters. The c ...
, submitting its Kamov Ka-226T, was another major competitor for the competition. Shortly after the selection of the Ka-226T to meet the requirement, during December 2015, an agreement was signed for the creation of a
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...
between Rostec, Russian Helicopters and HAL to manufacture the Ka-226T at a new factory to be built at Tumakuru, India. Meanwhile, HAL, which had long held ambitions to design and produce such an aircraft, sought to establish a partnership with a Western manufacturer with considerable technical knowhow in the field; reportedly, Eurocopter were viewed as being the favourite, having already worked with HAL for decades on previous ventures, such as the Chetak and Cheetal that were being replaced.


Project launch

During February 2009, India's defence ministry approved HAL's proposal to enter the design phase on an indigenous design that could potentially meet the requirements of the competition, as well to explore partnership arrangements. HAL promptly performed preliminary design studies on a prospective 3-tonne light helicopter, powered by a single
HAL/Turbomeca Shakti The Safran Ardiden is a turboshaft designed and produced by Safran Helicopter Engines for single and twin-engine helicopters. Launched in 2003 as a more powerful TM 333, it first ran in 2005 and was introduced in 2007. The Ardiden 1 ''Shakt ...
turboshaft A turboshaft engine is a form of gas turbine that is optimized to produce shaftpower rather than jet thrust. In concept, turboshaft engines are very similar to turbojets, with additional turbine expansion to extract heat energy from the exhaust ...
engine and possessing a range of up to 500 km (270 nm) and a payload capacity of up to 500 kg (1,100 lb). In March 2010, HAL announced that it had decided to proceed on the LUH project alone, without any international partner participating in its development. In February 2011, HAL unveiled a full-sized mockup of its LUH design.Govindasamy, Siva
"AERO INDIA: HAL reveals Light Utility Helicopter mock-up."
''Flight International'', 9 February 2011.
At this point, the design of the LUH was officially frozen, but some elements, such as the powerplant, were yet to be selected for the type; additionally, the first prototype was anticipated to be constructed by the end of 2012 and the first flight was scheduled to occur during 2013. By early November 2012, the bottom structure assembly of the LUH ground test vehicle had been completed. According to HAL, the manufacturing jigs, which are of a modular and gaugeless design, consisting of five assembly jigs and a coupling jig, had been developed and validated using Computer Aided Measurement System (CAMS) to establish high accuracy and stability, which produces smooth and flawless 'First off' structure build.In March 2014, HAL promoted its LUH's capabilities as a civilian multirole helicopter, noting its ability to carry up to six passengers in an appropriate configuration.


Test programme

Following repeated delays to the type's first flight, on 6 September 2016, the first prototype LUH PT-1 (ZG4620) conduct its
maiden flight The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets. The maiden flight of a new aircraft type is alw ...
outside HAL's manufacturing facility at
Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...
.Shukla, Ajai
"HAL's light utility helicopter takes inaugural flight."
''Business Standard'', 7 September 2016.
The maiden flight, which was reportedly flown without any issues, marked the commencement of the flight test phase of development. On 14 February 2017, the first prototype performed an aerobatic display in front of members of the general public in Aero India 2017. Based on the feedback from the first prototype, a more refined second prototype performed its first flight on 22 May 2017."HAL Test Flies Second Prototype Of Light Utility Helicopters"
''ndtv.com'', 24 May 2017.
The LUH flew at 6 km altitude Envelope Expansion Test at Bengaluru, a critical certification requirement, in December 2018. Subsequently, on 14 December 2018, the third prototype PT-3 had its maiden flight. In 2018, the LUH finished hot weather trials at
Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nagpur is projected to ...
. Testing at sea-level altitudes was completed at
Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
in 2018 and at
Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to: * Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India ** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry t ...
in 2019.In January 2019, the LUH successfully completed cold weather trials. The LUH undertook successful high altitude hot weather trials between 24 August and 2 September 2019. By 7 February 2020, three prototypes had cumulatively performed over 550 flights. On 7 February 2020, the LUH received its Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) from the Ministry of Defence's (MoD) department of Defence Research and Development. The Indian Army has requested a final demonstration trial prior to the LUH goes into mass production. HAL announced the completion of the final demonstration trial on 9 September 2020, which involved envelope expansion, performance, flying qualities, payload and landing capabilities at the highest altitudes of
Siachen Glacier The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas at about , just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends. At long, it is the longest glacier in the Kar ...
. The Final Operational Clearance (FOC) is planned for 2021, following tests focused on its automatic flight control system (AFCS). During an official visit on 7 October 2021, Director General of Army Aviation Corps Lt Gen AK Suri flew the final test sortie in Light Utility Helicopter which successfully completed the Army Acceptance Trial. HAL LUH is now ready for induction by the Indian Armed Forces. From August 2022, HAL will start flight trial of limited series production (LSP) platform.


Manufacturing

While limited series production (LSP) will be completed from Bengaluru, HAL intends to perform mass production of the LUH at its new helicopter manufacturing complex at Tumakur that will have the capacity to produce helicopters of 3 ton to 12 ton category. The Tumakur assembly line will complete around 30 LUHs per year by 2019–2020; upon enacting Phase II, which will take another three-four years, production would be ramped up to 60 helicopters per year from 2023. Tumakur assembly line will become fully operational from March 2022. As per government report from
Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...
, Army and IAF will get two LSP each from 2022-23. After that HAL will start rolling out series production (SP) variants. The gearbox was developed by Microtec company located in Hyderabad, while the ring gear is built by Shanti Gears and transmission by HAL. Avionics hardware is supplied by Chennai based Data patterns and HAL worked on the software. With supplies from many other Indian companies, HAL plans to take the indigenous content to over 60 percent. Ministry of Defence placed an initial order of 12 Light Utility Helicopters out of which 6 are for
Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
and another 6 for the Indian Air Force. First LUH will be delivered by August 2022. Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on 2 November 2021 approved purchase of 12 Limited Series Production (LSP) variant of LUH. HAL on 20 October 2022, awarded the contract for design and development of night vision goggles for LUH to MKU. It will be powered by Generation 3 (GEN III) technology. The development will be handled by Netro Optronics division at MKU. Indian Coast Guard Director General V S Pathania lead a delegation of officials to Helicopter Division of HAL, during which he undertook a 45 minute sortie in LUH. ICG is evaluating replacement of Chetak helicopters in fleet with the LUH.


Design

The HAL Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) is a 3-tonne class highly agile new generation light helicopter. According to HAL, it possesses a cruise speed of 235 km/h, maximum speed of 260 km/h, service ceiling of up to 6.5 km, a range of 350 km with maximum take-off weight of 3.12 tonne and an empty weight of 1.91 tonne. The LUH will be capable of accommodating a maximum of two pilots and six passengers, all of which shall be seated on crash-worthy seats; externally, it is capable of carrying cargoes of up to 1 tonne under-slung. LUH with glass cockpit will be able to undertake various missions, including
emergency medical service Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. ...
s (EMS), troop transport, utility, search and rescue (S&R), VVIP,
aerial reconnaissance Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance for a military or strategic purpose that is conducted using reconnaissance aircraft. The role of reconnaissance can fulfil a variety of requirements including artillery spotting, the collection of i ...
and surveillance missions.Waldron, Greg
"PICTURES: India's Light Utility Helicopter has maiden flight."
''Flight International'', 7 September 2016.
LUH is powered by a single 750 KW rated Shakti-1U
turboshaft A turboshaft engine is a form of gas turbine that is optimized to produce shaftpower rather than jet thrust. In concept, turboshaft engines are very similar to turbojets, with additional turbine expansion to extract heat energy from the exhaust ...
engine derived from
Safran Ardiden The Safran Ardiden is a turboshaft designed and produced by Safran Helicopter Engines for single and twin-engine helicopters. Launched in 2003 as a more powerful TM 333, it first ran in 2005 and was introduced in 2007. The Ardiden 1 ''Shakt ...
, co-developed by HAL and Turbomeca. It supports dual channel
Full Authority Digital Engine Control A full authority digital engine (or electronics) control (FADEC) is a system consisting of a digital computer, called an "electronic engine controller" (EEC) or "engine control unit" (ECU), and its related accessories that control all aspects of ai ...
(FADEC) system along with backup fuel control system. The helicopter will be equipped with a glass cockpit featuring a Smart Cockpit Display System (SCDS) along with a skid-based landing gear arrangement. LUH is the only helicopter in the 3 ton class to have foldable rotors.


Operator


Military operators

; * Indian Air Force: 6 on order, 61 planned. *
Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
: 6 on order, 126 planned. * Indian Coast Guard : Working to replace Chetak fleet with LUH.


Civil operators

* Vman Aviation : 5 planned


Specifications


See also


References


External links


HAL LUH official site
{{HAL aircraft Light Utility Helicopter Military helicopters Indian helicopters Aircraft first flown in 2016