Jammu(Jammu and Kashmir): A Cheetah helicopter of the Indian Army made an emergency landing at a village in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir after facing a technical issue on Monday March 4, sources said.
It is learnt that the Army's Cheetah helicopter made the emergency landing due to some technical issue in fields at Hathal village of Sunderbani tehsil of Rajouri district at around 12 noon today.
After fixing the technical snag, the chopper was later flown back to its destination, Indian Army officials said. It can be recalled that on Dec 7 last year, a Cheetah helicopter had made a 'precautionary landing' in a field in Haryana's Yamunanagar district in a similar manner due to a technical glitch. However, no casualty or damage to property was reported in that accident.
An Army spokesperson had said at the time that a Cheetah helicopter of the IAF on a routine training mission carried out a precautionary landing in a field near Yamunanagar due to technical reasons. The helicopter was later recovered back to a nearby IAF base.
Significantly, the Indian Army is planning to replace the entire fleet of Cheetah and Chetak choppers in the next 10-12 years with indigenously built helicopters.
Sources said that the phasing out of the Cheetah and Chetak helicopters will start in the next two to three years.
In place of the two types of helicopters, the Army is hoping to get Light Utility Helicopters (LUH). The phasing out of the Cheetah and Chetak helicopters is expected to take 10-12 years.
