EXCLUSIVE: The Proposed Indian Multirole Helicopter (IMRH) Detailed

[Mrc]

Thank you . .

i hope you too can make your own moped engine soon

We have an engine .. just give us an excuse to use it

 

[Sliver]

heavy Mi influence. Must be because of the familiarity of using and overhauling the system locally. Does India manufacture any parts or overhaul the Mi's or do they have to be sent back to Russia for upgrade/overhauls and parts?

 

[Water Car Engineer]

I hope it works as good as tejas

Thanks buddy, these programs are going good too.

 

[Hephaestus]

Nice...wonder if Ecuador has expressed any interest?

What a complete waste of space you are. You've derailed the thread already.

Anyways did you count the # of apache's that flew under your radar with impunity that fateful day. Tsk Tsk.

 

[Mustang06]

Thanks buddy, these programs are going good too.

Why did you do that?!
Let them have some fun!

 

[Vertiti Scrutator]

The Indian Multi-Role Helicopter (IMRH), which should hopefully soon begin development with the selection of an international technology partner, finally has a set of final specs (they underwent a change last year). The image you see above is the first diagrammatic representation of the helicopter from official material being prepared for documents that will follow up the invitations for Expressions of Interest (EoI) sent out last year.

HAL has proposed that the platform needs to have an all-up weight of 13 metric tons, a maximum speed of 275-km/h and a service ceiling of 22,000 ft. The Indian military wants the helicopter to have a payload capacity of 3,500-kg and range of 500-km at sea level. The IMRH platform is to sport a five-blade composite main rotor with a four-bladed composite tail rotor, twin turboshaft engines with dual full authority digital engine controls. The powerplants would be required to have a 30-minute dry-run capable transmission system. All IMRHs will have glass cockpits — using equipment from Halbit Systems, DARE and Samtel.

The bid is stuck, however, at the EoI stage, with four companies wondering what is happening. Companies that have responded to HAL’s invitation include Eurocopter (EC725 Caracal), Sikorsky (S-92A), Agusta-Westland (AW101) and Mil (Mi-17-IV).

Officially the IMRH mission spectrum includes troop movement, high-altitude air maintenance, offshore operations, heliborne and amphibious assault operations, anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare. An armed gunship version is also expected to be concurrently developed. Other proposed variants include civil transport, VVIP transport, and air-ambulance.

This is HAL coming up with a set of requirements and begging another company to share their design so they can license build it!!! HAL has been yakking about IMRH from age immemorial and all it has is a set of requirements (that too probably taken from Mi-8 etc!!). Not cool at all!!

 

[Water Car Engineer]

This is HAL coming up with a set of requirements and begging another company to share their design so they can license build it!!! HAL has been yakking about IMRH from age immemorial and all it has is a set of requirements (that too probably taken from Mi-8 etc!!). Not cool at all!!

They already have a design, they probably need help in some of the critical tech for a heli of this size. They've hardly been, 'yakking', about it, since I've been following these programs, they've barely said anything about it.

 

[Vertiti Scrutator]

They already have a design, they probably need help in some of the critical tech for a heli of this size. They've hardly been, 'yakking', about it, since I've been following these programs, they've barely said anything about it.

If they needed help in some specific area, then their EoI would specifically state that. By giving general description of the helo's features, it does seem like they are looking for the complete design (they haven't even picked the requisite engines)!

 

[Water Car Engineer]

If they needed help in some specific area, then their EoI would specifically state that. By giving general description of the helo's features, it does seem like they are looking for the complete design (they haven't even picked the requisite engines)!

They wouldnt show a mock up of it in the upcoming Aero India if much of the design isnt complete, frozen. They've done the same with LUH and LCH, before being prototyped, flown.

If they wanted to license produce, they can simply do so like they do with dorners, hawks, etc. It wouldnt be rebranded.

 

[Vertiti Scrutator]

They wouldnt show a mock up of it in the upcoming Aero India if much of the design isnt complete, frozen. They've done the same with LUH and LCH, before being prototyped, flown.

If they wanted to license produce, they can simply do so like they do with dorners, hawks, etc.

Not sure what's so unique about that mockup that looks eerily like an Mi-8!! It is not unusual for a company to put out a mockup of their 'concept' without any firm design! It is very likely that the impending JV would take an existing design of a medium-lift helo (from the foreign participant), make some minor customization that would suit IA/IAF and then go onto license produce it.

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Not sure what's so unique about that mockup that looks eerily like an Mi-8!! It is not unusual for a company to put out a mockup of their 'concept' without any firm design! It is very likely that the impending JV would take an existing design of a medium-lift helo (from the foreign participant), make some minor customization that would suit IA/IAF and then go onto license produce it.

Who cares what it looks like? The Polish, Koreans, French are also using same exhaust and intake set up for their new helicopters, why cant India? Especially when it's familiar with that? It looks like a mix of Dhruv and MI, both designs India has.

If they want to license produce it, like they do with hawks, etc. that's fine. But it wont be rebranded. HAL doesnt need to certify, validate it in India's environment alone like it does with LCH and LUH.

It is very likely that the impending JV would take an existing design of a medium-lift helo (from the foreign participant), make some minor customization that would suit IA/IAF and then go onto license produce it.

Or it very likely, they have a good design concept(mock up), they hire a experiance consultant to over look their design.

 

[Vertiti Scrutator]

Who cares what it looks like? The Polish, Koreans, French are also using same exhaust and intake set up for their new helicopters, why cant India? Especially when it's familiar with that? It looks like a mix of Dhruv and MI, both designs India has.

If they want to license produce it, like they do with hawks, etc. that's fine. But it wont be rebranded. HAL doesnt need to certify, validate it in India's environment alone like it does with LCH and LUH.




Or it very likely, they have a good design concept(mock up), they hire a experiance consultant to over look their design.

That would a very specific request for consulting service...like it was done for Arjun, Kaveri etc.. it doesn't seem to be the case here

 

[Water Car Engineer]

That would a very specific request for consulting service...like it was done for Arjun, Kaveri etc.. it doesn't seem to be the case here

If HAL simply wants to license produce a product, like it does with several others, it can go and get design without the hassle of certifying, modifying, etc. alone like it had to do with Dhruv, LCH, soon LUH.

Matter a fact, it seems Kamov is offering this very same class of heli for co-production, Kamov Ka-60, which are replacing the MI8s.

 

[Vertiti Scrutator]

If HAL simply wants to license produce a product, like it does with several others, it can go and get design without the hassle of certifying, modifying, etc. alone like it had to do with Dhruv, LCH, soon LUH.

Matter a fact, it seems Kamov is offering this very same class of heli for co-production, Kamov Ka-60, which are replacing the MI8s.

It is very likely that HAL will choose one of the existing designs (perhaps Ka-60), then fine tune it for Indian needs - retrofit with Israeli avionics (this seems to be the preferred thing for some reason) and maybe tune the helo for high altitude operations!

 

[Water Car Engineer]

It is very likely that HAL will choose one of the existing designs (perhaps Ka-60), then fine tune it for Indian needs - retrofit with Israeli avionics (this seems to be the preferred thing for some reason) and maybe tune the helo for high altitude operations!

If it wants to license produce, like it does/did with Mig 21s, Jaugars, Dorners, Hawks, Su 30 MKI, etc, etc. the list goes on, it wont get a designate of HAL IMRH. It'll still get it's original name, there's no need to hide such a thing, HAL hasnt.