Bangalore, February 10
A new bigger and more powerful chopper has been pressed into service specifically for the needs of the Army in Siachen. The chopper, an upgraded version of the existing Dhruv, will have a brand new engine enabling it to carry heavier loads to drop supplies at the glacier in the harsh winter months and ensure safer evacuation of those needing medical treatment.

The glacier (21,000 feet) in northern Jammu and Kashmir has been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan since 1984. The Army has a brigade-level (5,000 troops) deployment at the glacier. The daily supplies have to be dropped by choppers based at Leh. At present, the vintage Cheetah/ Cheetak choppers operate there and barely meet the requirements in case of emergency evacuation. The feet of the soldier, when evacuated in a lying down position, stick out as the chopper is not wide enough.

The first of the five new choppers, named Dhruv Mark III, were handed over by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to the Army Aviation Wing today.

P Soundara Rajan, Director Corporate planning, HAL, confirmed that the engine - Shakti - is powerful enough to take the chopper to Siachen and even higher. The HAL and French company Turbomeca have co-developed the engine and one of the key specifications was the ability to land and take off at a high altitude. The earlier version of the Dhruv did not have the ability and the Army was using the souped up version of Cheetah/Chetak for its Siachen operations.

The HAL will produce 159 of these choppers. Separately, Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshall PV Naik, listed how the IAF’s chopper fleet is going to change and the present year will be important. The evaluation report of attack choppers is expected in a week. Russian-origin Mi- 28 and Boeing’s Apache are in the race.

The IAF is looking to add another 50 of the medium lift Mi-17-V choppers in addition to the 80 that are expected this year. In case of the heavy-lift choppers, the Russian Mi-26 and Boeing’s Chinook are in the race.

The last bit of the flight evaluation test is over, the IAF chief said. The 12 of the Agusta Westland choppers for VVIP use were expected shortly. Lastly, the trials for the 197 light utility choppers are over and the evaluation report was expected shortly, Air Chief Marshall Naik added.