DEF-LCH

India's indigenouslydesigned and

developed Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) hassuccessfully

carried out air-to-air missile firing on a movingaerial

target, state-run aerospace behemothHAL Thursday said.

Calling it a "unique milestone", the city-headquartered

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited said thetests were conducted

from integrated test range at Chandipur inOdisha recently.

LCH is designed and developed by Rotary Wing Research &

Design Centre (RWRDC) of HAL in response to the operational

needs of Indian Armed Forces and its capabilities far exceed

that of contemporary attack helicopters of its class.

HAL CMD R Madhavan said this was the first time in the

country that a helicopter had carried out air to air missile

engagement.

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, a HAL release said.

Madhavan said "None of the helicopters with the

militaryservices in the country has demonstrated such a

capability. With this, LCH has successfully completed all

weapon integration tests and is ready for operational

induction."

Other weapons on LCH include a 20 mm Turret gun and 70

mm rockets, the firing trials of which have already been

completed last year, HAL said.

LCH is the only attack helicopter in the world capable

of operating at altitudes as high as the location of Siachen

glacier, it said.

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, HAL said.

Noting that using these sights, pilots can now launch a

missile onto any target without having to turn thehelicopter,

it said, the fire and forget missile waseffective against all

types of aerial threat, including unmanned aerial vehicles

(UAVs)and microlight aircraft.

Capable of operating from dispersed locations andflying

at ultra low levels, LCH can now effectively provide a

protective umbrella from all aerial threats, it added.

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has accorded

approval for procurement of initial batch of 15 LCHs (10 for

the IAF and 5 for the Army).