Through a post on its official Twitter account, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Argentine Armed Forces (EMCOFFA) confirmed that a delegation visited the facilities of Hindustan Aeronautic Limited and conducted test flights of the Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) MK-1.
According to the post, the test flights of Medium and Mountain helicopters-whose acquisition is planned to, among other duties, replace the veteran SA-315 LAMAs-were conducted to «check their performance and have elements of judgment for comparison with other models under analysis.»
EMCOFFA goes on to describe the LUH as a helicopter with a service ceiling of 21320 ft (6,500 mts), transport capacity for 7 persons or 2 evacuation stretchers and 1 medic. As indicated, it has an Autonomy of 3 Hours and a speed of 140 kts (260 Kmph).
“En el día de hoy, continuando con las actividades de la #DefExpo2022, que se desarrolla en Gujarat, #India, visitamos la Empresa Aeronáutica Hindustan Aeronautic Limited (@HALHQBLR) , donde pilotos helicopteristas del @Ejercito_Arg y la @FuerzaAerea_Arg efectuaron vuelos de pic.twitter.com/Xex2qtmsfY
— Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina (@EMCOFFA_Arg) October 22, 2022
According to Indian publications, the LUH would not be the only helicopter that Argentina would be evaluating during the visit, as part of the DefExpo 2022 being held in Gandhinagar, capital of the state of Gujarat.
The Financial Express indicated that interest was also expressed in the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv and the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) Prachand, although it was not confirmed by the Argentine counterpart.
«There is a large delegation coming from the South American nation of Argentina – it could be late next week. They have expressed interest in the helicopters that have been designed and developed and manufactured by HAL,» FE quotes a diplomatic source as saying, adding, «The team coming will also have test pilots.»
Ecuador, a not-so-happy former customer of Indian helicopters
In August 2008, Ecuador’s National Defense Board announced the purchase of seven HAL Dhruvs for $45 million. It took delivery of the first five in February 2009 and completed its crew six months later, in August.
In October of that same year the first of the Dhruvs crashed and three more would suffer accidents, in February 2014 and on January 13 and 14, 2015. Beyond the accident rate, a report by the Ecuadorian Comptroller General’s Office had already mentioned problems in maintenance systems and materials.
In February 2010, Ecuadorian General Jorge Gabela appeared before the Audit Commission of the National Assembly and stated that while he was in command of the Ecuadorian Air Force – and opposed the purchase – he was «persecuted» and received threats. In December of that year, Gabela was attacked at the door of his house and died after ten days of agony.
Ecuador terminated the contract with HAL in 2015, citing operational safety issues, and preserved the three remaining Dhruvs-along with spare engines and associated tooling-with the intention of selling them, but various legal actions made such a transaction impossible so far.
To cover the operational need left by the retirement of the Dhruvs, the FAE purchased six Airbus H145s in 2021 for almost US$70 million. This amount is only slightly higher than the $63 million in which the Ecuadorian justice assessed the damage resulting from the Indian helicopter contract.
For the acquisition of medium/mountain helicopters, Argentina is also evaluating the H145 and the Bell 412. The LUH is a derivative of the ALH Dhruv, and one of the main differences lies in its single HAL/Turbomeca Shakti-1U engine, instead of the two Shakti-1H of the Dhruv Block III and IV or the two Turbomeca TM 333-2B2 of the Block I and II.
