New Delhi, September 9: In a major milestone, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) said that the indigenous Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) has successfully completed its hot and high altitude trials in Himalayas for 10 days. The Bengaluru-based HAL said that the trials were carried out by the test pilots from HAL, IAF and the Army. The helicopter also demonstrated its payload capacity in Siachen glacier high altitude. During the trails, the pilots landed the helicopter at the highest helipads of Amar and Sonam.

The locally developed LUH has demonstrated its high-altitude capability and met all user requirements during testing, HAL said in its statement. "HAL has once again proved its indigenous capability in design & development. The Army version of LUH is now ready for Initial Operational Clearance,” R Madhavan, CMD, HAL, said. HAL's 2 Light Combat Helicopters Deployed in Ladakh Amid Tensions With China at LAC.

In its statement, the HAL said that the LUH took off from Leh and demonstrated its hot and high altitude trials at the Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) at 5,000 MAMSL. During the trials, the LUH showed a comprehensive test plan at an altitude of 3,300 m in the Leh region in the Himalayas. It was tested for its envelope expansion, performance and flying qualities. The LUH is designed as a replacement for Cheetah and Chetak helicopters that are used by the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Indian Army.

Light Utility Helicopter (LUH)- All you Need to Know:

  1. The LUH is an indigenously developed Helicopter and will meet the emerging needs in this class of helicopters in the coming decades. LUH is designed and developed as a replacement for Cheetah & Chetak helicopters which are being operated by Indian Armed forces.

  2. It is a new generation helicopter in the 3-Ton class incorporating the state of the art technology features like Glass cockpit with Multi-Function Displays (MFD). It is powered by single Turbo Shaft engine with sufficient power margin to cater to demanding high altitude missions.

  3. The HAL-LUH along with its derivative Light Observation Helicopter (LOH) is design and developed by Rotary Wing Research and Design Center (RWR&DC), one of the R&D sections of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for civilian and military applications.

  4. The LUH is capable of accommodating a maximum of two pilots and six passengers, Externally, it is capable of carrying cargoes of up to 1 tonne under-slung.

  5. LUH with glass cockpit will be able to undertake various missions, including emergency medical services (EMS), troop transport, utility, search and rescue (S&R), VVIP, aerial reconnaissance and surveillance missions.

HAL said despite extreme weather conditions imposed flight restrictions on all other civil and military aircraft, LUH flights were unhindered as it is designed for such operations.

Here's the tweet by HAL:

Even in 2019, LUH had done important hot weather and high altitude tests in the Himalayas towards Ladakh from August 24 to September 2, 2019 and sea level trials were held in Puducherry. In 2018, the LUH completed hot weather trials at Nagpur and sea level trials in Chennai. LUH's endurance and reliability was established during the hot weather and high-altitude trials where it was ferried from Bengaluru, covering over 7,000-km distance and continuously flying for 17 days without any abnormalities.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 09, 2020 01:08 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).