Crash of ALH-WSI brings into focus accidents involving military platforms

The crash of a weapon system integrated version of an Advanced Light Helicopter ALH of the Indian Army on Friday near Tuting in Arunachal Pradesh once again brought into sharp focus the growing number of accidents involving military choppers and aircraftThe twinengine indigenouslydeveloped helicopter belonging to the Army Aviation wing went down at Migging village in Upper Siang district of the border state and a massive search and rescue operation has been launched by the Army and the Indian Air Force IAF in the highaltitude treacherous regionA Tezpurbased defence ministry spokesperson the ALH weapons system helicopter took off from Lekabali and crashed at Migging near Tuting a region which is located around 35 km from the border with ChinaThe ALH WSI also known as Rudra Mark IV is potent attack helicopter designed and developed by staterun Hindustan Aeronautics Limited HAL to to fill very niche roles in the Indian Army and the IAFAlso read Supreme Court to hear on November 9 Navlakhas plea seeking house arrestThe Indian Armys aviation wing has been deploying the Weapon System Integrated WSI variant of the Advanced Light Helicopter Rudra in the region adding more teeth to its tactical missions in view of the lingering border row with China in eastern LadakhThe multirole helicopter of 58 Ton class is an armed version of the ALH Dhruv The indigenously designed and developed ALHDhruv is a multirole multimission new generation helicopterWe do not have any details about the crash So it will be unfair to comment But my general view is that the fleet must be equipped with more safety equipment including obstacle avoidance systems said a military expert on condition of anonymityAnother ALHWSI had crashed into the massive Ranjit Sagar reservoir near Pathankot on August 3 last year in which two Army pilots were killedIn October 2019 a Dhruv helicopter of the Indian Army carrying the then Chief of the Northern Command Lt Gen Ranbir Singh and other senior officers had crash landed in Jammu and Kashmirs PoonchIndia has already supplied a number of ALH Dhruv to friendly foreign countriesThe accident involving the ALHWSI in Migging came two weeks after a Lt Colonel from the Armys aviation wing was killed and his copilot sustained severe injuries when their Cheetah helicopter crashed in a forward area near Tawang in Arunachal PradeshBetween March 2017 and December 2021 31 people lost their lives in accidents involving 15 military helicopters that included four ALH four Cheetah two ALH WSI three Mi17V5 an Mi17 and a Chetak according to official detailsThe total number of deceased in the 15 accidents included 14 people killed in the December 8 2021 crash near Coonoor Then Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat his wife Madhulika and 12 armed forces personnel were killed in the crashSeven helicopters each from the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force were involved in accidents during the period while the number from the Navy was oneThe armed forces are in the process of acquiring new choppers to replace the ageing fleet of Cheetah and Chetak helicopters some of which were inducted around three to five decades agoIndia and Russia inked an intergovernmental pact in 2015 for joint production of around 200 Kamov 226 helicopters to replace the ageing choppers but the ambitious project is yet to take offThe Army currently operates around 180 Cheetah Chetak and Cheetal helicopters The IAF has around 120 Cheetah and Chetak helicopters in its inventoryThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever