New Delhi: The Cheetah helicopters are in line to get the dubious distinction of being labelled as the "flying coffins", akin to the MiGs-21s that once carried a similar epithet because of their poor safety record.
The Cheetah helicopters were first inducted into service with the Armed Forces in 1976. As much as 75 per cent of the Army’s fleet of Cheetah and Chetak helicopters, its mainstay, is over 30 years old. Some of the helicopters are about 50 years old.
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As many as seven crashes of the Cheetah helicopters have been reported since 2010, claiming 14 lives so far.
Three officers died in a copter crash in Nagaland on August 18, 2010. Almost two years later on May 23, 2012, a pilot was killed in a crash at Siachen.
On October 2, 2014, three army aviators were killed in a crash near Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly. Barely four months later on February 3, 2015, the incumbent Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat, who was then a lieutenant general, survived a crash in Dimapur, Nagaland.
On November 30, 2016, a helicopter crashed at Sukna in West Bengal, killing three officers. Three years later on September 27, 2019, two pilots were killed when an Indian Army single-engine helicopter crashed in eastern Bhutan.
On Tuesday, two pilots were critically injured after a helicopter crash-landed in Jammu & Kashmir's Udhampur. They died in hospital.
Current fleet of Cheetah helicopters with the Army
The Army is holding 160 of the 246 Cheetah and Chetak helicopters with a serviceability rate of 60 per cent. Of these, about 75 per cent of the helicopters are at least 30 years old and some even 50 years old. In addition, around 20 helicopters are with the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for over a year awaiting an overhaul.
The 'total technical life' of these Cheetah and Chetak light utility choppers will begin ending from 2023 onwards.
As many as 483 light utility helicopters to replace old cheetah and chetak fleets.
Status of alternative helicopters
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin had in 2015 announced 200 Kamov 226T for India at a cost of Rs20,000 crore as the country sought to replace the ageing Cheetah and Chetak choppers. The Indian Army is expecting progress in Ka-226T helicopter deal with Russia soon.
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The Army variant of the Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) received its Initial Operational Clearance during the Aero India show in February 2021 and officials said the Army will receive the first batch of six LUHs by December 2022. The LUH is being designed and developed by HAL.
The Army aviation is also gearing up for some major inductions in the next couple of years, including the AH-64 Apache, considered as the world's best attack helicopter. These helicopters are expected to be delivered in 2023 and are likely to be operational within a year thereafter.
