Army, Air Force Versions Of Dhruv Helicopters Cleared For Operations

The government has cleared the resumption of operations of Army and Air Force versions of the Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv, officials said on Thursday.

The naval version of the chopper will remain grounded, they said.

The entire fleet of over 330 Dhruv helicopters operated by the Army, Navy, the Air Force and the Coast Guard was grounded in early January following a crash of one of the choppers.

A Dhruv helicopter of the Coast Guard crashed at the Porbandar airport runway in Gujarat on January 5. Two pilots and an aircrew diver of the helicopter were killed in the incident.

The indigenously designed and developed Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH-Dhruv) is a twin engine, multi-role, multi-mission new generation helicopter in the 5.5 ton weight class.

More than 340 Dhruv helicopters have been produced by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd so far.