BENGALURU: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited's (HAL) Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv Mk III MR has successfully demonstrated its deck-operations capabilities that include landing on the deck, folding of blades and storing the helicopter inside the onboard hangar.
A statement from HAL said the recently concluded ship-borne trials off Chennai coast, in collaboration with the Indian Coast Guard, also covered maintenance activities inside the hangar and on the deck, hot refuelling with engines running on the deck. HAL had recently delivered ALH Dhruv Mk III MR to the Indian Coast Guard as part of its 16 ALH contract.
HAL CMD R Madhavan said the trials have proven the capability of ALH Dhruv to carry out extended operations from ships. Some of the missions that were successfully executed were surveillance, search and rescue, anti-pollution to address oil spillage.
"With the successful demonstration of these capabilities, like blade folding, stowage, the helicopter is now ready to be fielded for operations," he stated. Dhruv Mk III MR is equipped with the modern surveillance radar that can detect and identify ships and boats up to a range of 120 nautical miles to enable the Indian Coast Guard in its duty to secure the nation from threats.