SOURCE: IDRW NEWS NETWORK
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), an Indian state-owned aerospace and defense company has turned its focus on the development of Indian Multi-Role Helicopter (IMRH) and Naval DMRH helicopters that will be replacing Mi-8/Mi-17 Helicopters in the Indian Army and Indian Air force fleet and Seaking in the Navy. With the Completion of the Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) and Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) program with the production facility already up and running only waiting for orders, its core research team has plans to work on two pathbreaking helicopter programs that will see the use of Coaxial rotor and tiltrotor propulsion.
While HAL has proposed to the Armed forces that it will work on next-generation helicopters post completion of the IMRH program sometime in 2032, the development of Coaxial rotor propulsion for a next-generation medium-lift-sized helicopter that might also include a pusher propeller configuration has not been ruled out.
Talks with Army and Air Force officials on the incorporation of next-gen propulsions in the helicopters have been taken up and idrw.org has been told that low observable tech with fast acceleration and deceleration are some of the criteria that have been discussed. idrw.org is breaking this, the new program can be seen as a Successor to the ALH-Dhruv program.
Army Aviation is the driving force on what will be classified as the successor of the ALH-Dhruv program that first flew in 1992 and has been updated over the last 30 years over various variants. While ALH-Dhruv production is still going strong but it won’t be in production for long as it too will require a successor program sometime in 2035-40.
The Tiltrotor Helicopter program will be much more complex since many established helicopter manufacturers have not been able to get it right on their very first try and will require much more research and development since such Tiltrotor propulsion is limited to very few OEMs. idrw.org can only confirm it will be a Heavy-lift class helicopter majorly for the Air Force with the possibility of the Navy joining in.
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