India grounds indigenous helicopter

ISLAMABAD: The indigenously designed and developed Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH-Dhruv) by India will not be part of the upcoming Republic Day fly-past as the entire fleet of the military choppers has been grounded following a crash of one of them this month.

The Indian Army has grounded the entire fleet of ALH-Dhruv following the crash of one of the choppers in Jammu and Kashmir last week. An ALH Dhruv with three people on board crashed following a “hard landing” in Kishtwar in occupied Jammu and Kashmir Thursday last. A technician was killed and two pilots were injured in the incident.

The Navy and the Coast Guard had grounded their respective ALH Dhruv fleets in March following two similar incidents involving the platform. The Indian sources said the ALH Dhruv choppers with the Navy and the Coast Guard are undergoing technical checks.

The Indian Air Force operates around 70 ALH Dhruv. A Coast Guard ALH crashed at Gujarat’s Porbandar on January 5 following which the armed forces grounded the entire fleet of the twin-engine choppers.

The ALH Dhruv will not be part of the Republic Day flypast over Kartavya Path on January 26. The choppers are likely to remain grounded till a high-level probe panel finds the root cause of the crash that killed two Coast Guard pilots and an aircrew diver.

The helicopters have been part of the Indian Republic Day fly-pasts for nearly one-and-half decades.

The official said the Republic Day flypast will feature 22 fighter jets, 11 transport planes, seven helicopters, and three Dornier surveillance aircraft. A Rafale fighter jet will also be part of the flypast.