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SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK
Indian army chief General Bipin Rawat speaking to media has lambasted that both Indigenous Attack/combat helicopters HAL Rudra and HAL Light Combat Helicopter have major shortcomings, that is in their current configuration both do not have suitable anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), which is the main weapon of any Attack/combat helicopters around the world.
Rawat said that Air version of indigenously developed Helina based on NAG ATGM developed by Countries DRDO is not likely to be ready in near future leaving a critical void in operational capability of this two helicopters.
As an Interim measure, Indian Army had asked Government of India to procure ATGM from International vendor for which three years ago trials were conducted and contenders were PARS 3 from MBDA and Spike from Israel but the government is yet to clear the deal.
Indian Army has placed orders for 60 Rudra ALH Mk-IV helicopters and at Aero India 2013 first two units were handed over Army. Pre-production of LCH (Light Combat Helicopter) is set to begin from 2018 onwards and again Indian Army has placed a requirement of 114 LCH which might be inducted again without ATGM.
Rudra ALH Mk-IV helicopters currently come with French Nexter THL-20 chin mounted gun turret housing a 20 mm M621 cannon and Belgian 70 mm rockets. Rudra was also to be equipped with air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, such as the anti-tank Helina missiles but delays have limited their operational capabilities.
http://idrw.org/both-hal-rudra-and-light-combat-helicopters-are-toothless-indian-army-chief-rawat/
Indian army chief General Bipin Rawat speaking to media has lambasted that both Indigenous Attack/combat helicopters HAL Rudra and HAL Light Combat Helicopter have major shortcomings, that is in their current configuration both do not have suitable anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), which is the main weapon of any Attack/combat helicopters around the world.
Rawat said that Air version of indigenously developed Helina based on NAG ATGM developed by Countries DRDO is not likely to be ready in near future leaving a critical void in operational capability of this two helicopters.
As an Interim measure, Indian Army had asked Government of India to procure ATGM from International vendor for which three years ago trials were conducted and contenders were PARS 3 from MBDA and Spike from Israel but the government is yet to clear the deal.
Indian Army has placed orders for 60 Rudra ALH Mk-IV helicopters and at Aero India 2013 first two units were handed over Army. Pre-production of LCH (Light Combat Helicopter) is set to begin from 2018 onwards and again Indian Army has placed a requirement of 114 LCH which might be inducted again without ATGM.
Rudra ALH Mk-IV helicopters currently come with French Nexter THL-20 chin mounted gun turret housing a 20 mm M621 cannon and Belgian 70 mm rockets. Rudra was also to be equipped with air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, such as the anti-tank Helina missiles but delays have limited their operational capabilities.
http://idrw.org/both-hal-rudra-and-light-combat-helicopters-are-toothless-indian-army-chief-rawat/
