BENGALURU: Just two days after the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) received a request for proposal for the supply of 83 'Tejas' light combat aircraft the aerospace company on Friday announced that it had received another request for proposal for 15 limited series light combat helicopters (LCH) from the Indian Air Force and the Indian Army.
The light combat helicopter is a 5.5 ton class, combat helicopter designed and developed by HAL. It is powered by two Shakti engines and inherits many technical features from the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH). However, the LCH sports a sleek and narrow fuselage, tri-cycle crashworthy landing gear, self-sealing fuel tanks, armor protection and low visibility features.
"LCH would have day/night targeting systems for the crew including the helmet pointed sight and electro-optical pod consisting of CCD camera/FLIR/Laser Range Finder (LRF)/Laser Designator (LD). The helicopter also has a inteself-protection suite. Presently, four technology demonstrators are under flight testing," a statement from HAL said.
It was also the first attack helicopter to land at the Siachen forward base, 5400 meters above sea level. It has also participated in the Indian Air Force's 'Iron Fist' exercise in 2016. In August this year, the defence minister had launched the production of the LCH at Bengaluru and initial operating capability (IOC) documents for the basic version were handed over to HAL.