Saifullah Sani
SENIOR MEMBER
India's Cheetah fleet dates from the 1960s. Source: IHS/Patrick Allen
The urgent need to replace the Indian military's ageing fleet of licence-built Cheetah (Aerospatiale SA315B Lama) light observation helicopters (LOH) was again highlighted after one crashed in northeastern Nagaland state on 2 February.
Lieutenant General Bipin Rawat and two Army Aviation Corps (AAC) officers sustained injuries after their Cheetah nosedived into the ground seconds after taking off from Dimapur, near the Myanmar border.
A court of inquiry has been ordered into the accident, but AAC officers told IHS Jane's that "platform obsolescence" was responsible for the accident, even though the Cheetah's engine had recently been overhauled.
The Indian Air Force and the AAC inducted Cheetahs and Chetaks (Aerospatiale Alouette IIIs) into service in the mid-1960s. Of these, 140 Cheetahs and over 200 Chetaks remain in service.
In November 2014 around 28 spouses of AAC pilots and technicians created a group demanding the platforms' withdrawal from service. They claimed 191 of the helicopters had crashed over the past two decades, killing 294 personnel.
COMMENT
Repeated attempts by the Indian military to acquire replacement single-engine, 2-2.5-ton platforms under LOH and Reconnaissance and Surveillance Helicopter (RSH) programmes have proved futile.
Two tenders to import 197 platforms in 2007 and 2014 were cancelled following allegations of corruption in the selection process.
In August 2014 the Ministry of Defence (MoD) opted to indigenously source about 440 LOH/RSHs through joint ventures between Indian companies and overseas original equipment manufacturers. However, the response has been lukewarm, forcing the MoD to extend the request for information deadline three times: the latest to 17 February.
India suffers another Cheetah crash - IHS Jane's 360






