HAL designed LCH completes its trial successfully

HAL designed LCH completes its trial successfully 

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited(HAL)  was designed and developed the Light Combat Helicopter(LCH) for operational needs to Indian Air Force. LCH completes its trial successfully in chandipur, odisha. 

HAL spokesman Gopal sutar said "During the tests conducted at integrated test range,  chandipur(Odisha)  recently Wg cdr Subash P John,  VM(Retd), test pilot,  Col Ranjit chitale, (Retd), Flight test engineer from HAL and Gp Capt Rajeev dubey,  test pilot from IAF executed a flawless mission and achieved a direct hit on the aerial target destroying it completely. 

Chairman and Managing director R Madhavan said that this is the first time in the country that a helicopter has carried out air to air missile engagement. None of the helicopters with the military services in the country has demonstrated such a capability. With this, LCH has successfully completed all weapon integration tests and is ready for operational induction. LCH is the only attack helicopter in the world capable of operating at altitudes as high as Siachan glacier.

 Equipped with helmet mounted sight and a forward looking infrared sighting system,  LCH pilots can now detect and destroy any target on ground or in the air. Using these sights, without turning the helicopter pilots can now launch a missile onto any target. 

Other weapons on LCH include a 20mm turret gun and 70mm rockets, the firing trails of which have been completed already last year. 

The Defence Acquisition Council(DAC)  has approved the procurement of initial batch of 15 LCHs(10 for IAF and 5 for Army).