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ROTARYWING

RENAISSANCE

Asian military rotorcraft programmes are coming of age

By ATUL CHANDRA

T he SE Asia /APAC region is has been incredibly succesful with HAL has setup Asia’s largest

export sales of its TA-50/FA-50
helicopter manufacturing facil-
home to the largest number
of credible aerospace firms
indigenously developed LUH.
outside of the U.S.,Europe and fighter jets and this is likely to have ity, which will initially produce the
a positive effect on its future rotor-
Russia. This has resulted in a large craft sales prospects. Current plans call for the factory to
number of military and commer- be expanded in future to manufac-
cial fixed wing programmes in the ture other HAL helicopters such as
region. Rotorcraft development Indigenous Champion the LCH, future IMRH as well as
however remains the preserve of India’s state-owned airframer undertake Maintenance Repair and
only a few nations. India, South Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Overhaul (MRO) of the LCH, LUH,
Korea and Japan are all pursuing (HAL) today has a growing portfo- Civil ALH and IMRH in the years to
their own helicopter programmes lio of military helicopters ranging come.
with varying degrees of foreign from the three tonne Light Utility
participation. Out of these three Helicoper (LUH) and five tonne HAL is now accelerating production
nations, India offers the largest category ‘Dhruv’ and Light Combat of the LUH, which will replace the
home market for military helicop- Helicopter (LCH) ‘Prachand’. It is long-serving Cheetah and Chetak
ters, followed by South Korea and now also in the initial stages of helicopters belonging to all three
then Japan. development of the bigger Indian services. The state-owned airframer
Multi-Role Helicopter (IMRH) which is slated to complete production
However, while all three nations is being designed as a replacement of an order for six Limited Series
have struggled with exports of heli- for India’s large fleet of Russian- Production (LSP) LUHs each to the
copters developed by them, South origin Mil Mi-17 medium helicopters. army and air force, later this year.
Korea is likely to have the brightest HAL has stated plans to produce Series Production of the LUH will
prospects for rotorcraft exports more than 1,000 helicopters in the commence once the required feed-
over the course of this decade. 3-15 tonne class over the next 20 back has been received from its
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) years. users and incorporated by HAL. The

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