India’s indigenously-made Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) Prachand, wowed audiences on the opening day of Aero India show.
Inducted into the Indian Air Force in October last year, the LCH Prachand is India’s indigenously-developed Light Combat Helicopter (LCH). The Prachand boasts of being the only attack helicopter in the world, which can land and take-off at an altitude of 5,000 metre (16,400 feet) with considerable load of weapons.
As per the defence ministry, the LCH Prachand is a 5.8-tonne class combat helicopter with potent ground attack and aerial combat capability. It possesses modern stealth characteristics and formidable night attack capability.
The Prachand can fly at a maximum speed of 288 kmph and has a combat radius of 500 km, which can go up to a service ceiling of 21,000 feet, making it ideal to operate in Siachen.
Incidentally, the need for the LCH was first realised during the 1999 Kargil War. At the time, the armed forces needed a helicopter which could operate at high altitudes and deliver precision strikes — the existing choppers couldn’t meet these targets. This, in turn, laid the foundation for the LCH Prachand.
HLFT-42
HAL displayed a scaled model Hindustan Lead in Fighter Trainer (HLFT)-42 at the show this year. The trainer could play a critical role in modern combat aircraft training of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The Lead-in fighter could plug the gap between subsonic jet training — that takes place on Hawk-132 — and supersonic jet training — which takes place on an actual fighter like the MiG-21.
Officials want HAL’s HLFT-42 to replace the Swiss-made Pilatus aircraft bought in 2012 for training.
Tejas Mk 2
Scaled models of the Tejas MK-2 and the Fifth Generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft were also featured at the Bengaluru exhibition.
Tejas Mark-2 is believed to be a more powerful version of the homemade Tejas jet. The jet has been described as a 4.5-generation machine, incorporating more advanced technologies.
India’s fifth generation fighter jet has long been in the pipeline and if all goes as planned, the prototype will take flight by 2028.
 Prachand, wowed audiences on the on the opening day of Aero India show.){kind=link}