aimarraul
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2008
- Messages
- 2,778
- Reaction score
- 0
India’s ‘Dhruv’ Helicopter falls under the Scanner as Ecuador Expresses Dissatisfaction
Posted on: July 29, 2011
India’s flagship defence export, the ‘Dhruv’ Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), has come under the scanner once again as Ecuador has claimed that these choppers are becoming a cause for concern due to poor after sales service, expensive spares and even over-invoicing. The critical shortcomings are directed at state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) by Ecuador which is the biggest overseas customer of ‘Dhruv’ ALH.
India had bagged a contract to supply seven ‘Dhruv’ ALH to Ecuado under a $ 51 million deal in 2009 and the choppers were inducted into the Ecuadorian Air Force. As of now, Ecuador is wary of the ‘Dhruv’ ALH since it has already witnessed a crash of the ‘Dhruv’ ALH in the past and two choppers have been grounded on account of malfunctioning of over-speed management unit (OMU). Currently, Ecuador has been perturbed by the high repair cost which Indian manufacturer is demanding for the OMU. According to sources, India is demanding $ 250,000 for the repair of the OMU, which is way more than the amount which original US company that manufactures the OMU charges.
While Ecuador has been besieged by this current problem, it is yet to receive the last consignment of two helicopters from India. To compound the problem, India has also raised the price of two additional ‘Dhruv’ ALH and it now stands at $ 12 million apiece. Apparently, Ecuadorian Air Force may even cancel the order for the last two choppers due to the mounting issues related to cost, maintenance problems and poor after sale service. State-run HAL which manufactures the ‘Dhruv’ ALH is yet to respond officially to Ecuador regarding these contentious issues.
‘Dhruv’ ALH is widely used the Indian Armed Forces and has been sold to various countries including Peru, Burma, Turkey, Maldives, Mauritius and Nepal. The military versions in production are for transport, utility, reconnaissance and MedEvac roles and civilian variant of the Dhruv for transport, rescue, policing, offshore operations and air-ambulance role. However, the growing negativity surrounding the ‘Dhruv’ ALH’s credibility, is likely to upset India’s plan to export its chopper to South American nations such as Chile and Brazil besides other countries.
It may be noted that even the Indian Air Force (IAF) has been critical of the ‘Dhruv’ ALH last year when it refused to accept any ‘Dhruv’ chopper until HAL fixed a problem that was restricting the chopper’s cruising speed to 250 kilometers per hour, significantly short of the 270 kilometer per hour that HAL specifications promise. In addition, there was a problem with ‘Dhruv’ ALH’s Integrated Dynamic System (IDS), which transfers power from the engines to the helicopter rotors, that was not performing optimally. In hindsight, Defence Ministry had remarked last year that the operationalisation of ‘Dhruv’ ALH before sorting out the design problems was unwise. The IAF had asked HAL for about 75 design changes prior to ‘Dhruv’ ALH’s development but the eagerness to press the chopper into service may have lead to a compromise on the design.
Posted on: July 29, 2011
India’s flagship defence export, the ‘Dhruv’ Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), has come under the scanner once again as Ecuador has claimed that these choppers are becoming a cause for concern due to poor after sales service, expensive spares and even over-invoicing. The critical shortcomings are directed at state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) by Ecuador which is the biggest overseas customer of ‘Dhruv’ ALH.
India had bagged a contract to supply seven ‘Dhruv’ ALH to Ecuado under a $ 51 million deal in 2009 and the choppers were inducted into the Ecuadorian Air Force. As of now, Ecuador is wary of the ‘Dhruv’ ALH since it has already witnessed a crash of the ‘Dhruv’ ALH in the past and two choppers have been grounded on account of malfunctioning of over-speed management unit (OMU). Currently, Ecuador has been perturbed by the high repair cost which Indian manufacturer is demanding for the OMU. According to sources, India is demanding $ 250,000 for the repair of the OMU, which is way more than the amount which original US company that manufactures the OMU charges.
While Ecuador has been besieged by this current problem, it is yet to receive the last consignment of two helicopters from India. To compound the problem, India has also raised the price of two additional ‘Dhruv’ ALH and it now stands at $ 12 million apiece. Apparently, Ecuadorian Air Force may even cancel the order for the last two choppers due to the mounting issues related to cost, maintenance problems and poor after sale service. State-run HAL which manufactures the ‘Dhruv’ ALH is yet to respond officially to Ecuador regarding these contentious issues.
‘Dhruv’ ALH is widely used the Indian Armed Forces and has been sold to various countries including Peru, Burma, Turkey, Maldives, Mauritius and Nepal. The military versions in production are for transport, utility, reconnaissance and MedEvac roles and civilian variant of the Dhruv for transport, rescue, policing, offshore operations and air-ambulance role. However, the growing negativity surrounding the ‘Dhruv’ ALH’s credibility, is likely to upset India’s plan to export its chopper to South American nations such as Chile and Brazil besides other countries.
It may be noted that even the Indian Air Force (IAF) has been critical of the ‘Dhruv’ ALH last year when it refused to accept any ‘Dhruv’ chopper until HAL fixed a problem that was restricting the chopper’s cruising speed to 250 kilometers per hour, significantly short of the 270 kilometer per hour that HAL specifications promise. In addition, there was a problem with ‘Dhruv’ ALH’s Integrated Dynamic System (IDS), which transfers power from the engines to the helicopter rotors, that was not performing optimally. In hindsight, Defence Ministry had remarked last year that the operationalisation of ‘Dhruv’ ALH before sorting out the design problems was unwise. The IAF had asked HAL for about 75 design changes prior to ‘Dhruv’ ALH’s development but the eagerness to press the chopper into service may have lead to a compromise on the design.
