HAL has flown the third technology demonstrator, or TD-3, for the first time. HAL Image
The Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) technology demonstrator TD-3 from HAL has completed a successful maiden flight. “Escorted by a Dhruv helicopter, the entire flight was flawless. It will be an effective weapon platform to deliver precision strikes at high altitude and we are confident it will meet the requirements of the IAF”, says Dr. R.K. Tyagi, chairman of HAL. “We are making all efforts to achieve IOC by September next year,” he adds.
In all, HAL is expected to produce/manufacture 179 LCHs for Indian Defence forces. Wing Cdr. Unni Pillai piloted the initial flight, and co-piloted by Group Capt. SHK Nair. It took off at 15:20 hours and flew for 20 minutes.
The scope of this project covers design and development of two technology demonstrators, one full-scale mock-up, one breakaway fuselage (BAF) and initial operational clearance (IOC).
During development of LCH, HAL’s board sanctioned LCH related projects, namely, modified rotor system, manufacturing of TD-3 & TD-4 for acceleration of development flight testing, indigenous development of integrated avionics and display system (lADS) and automatic flight control system (AFCS) in order to reduce the dependency on foreign vendors and develop indigenous technology.
Breakaway fuselage of LCH was built and limit load testing was completed successfully in October 2012. LCH-TD-1 was first flown on March 29, 2010, and LCH-TD-2 was flown on June 28, 2011. Together, TD-1 and TD-2 have flown 388 flights (285:10 hours).
For better planning, execution and monitoring of the project leading to enhancement of number of flights to achieve milestones of cold weather trials, hot weather trails and weapon firing trials, HAL’s board had sanctioned manufacturing of TD-3 and TD-4.
