Hummingbird News Desk
NEW DELHI, 12 JUNE: Three indigenously-built Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) MK III were inducted into Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Saturday. Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar said that the helicopters, which are part of ALH Mk III programme, will be positioned at four Coast Guard squadrons at Bhubaneshwar, Porbandar, Kochi and Chennai.
The state-of-the-art helicopters are indigenously designed and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bengaluru and it was the part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Atmanirbhar Bharat vision.
A virtual program was held simultaneously at the ICG Headquarters in Delhi and at Helicopter MRO Division of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)in Bengaluru. Director General, Indian Coast Guard, K Natarajan and R Madhavan, CMD, HAL were also present on the occasion.
The helicopters are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment like Surveillance Radar, Electro-Optic Pod, Medical Intensive Care Unit, High-intensity Search Light, SAR Homer, Loud Hailer, Machine Gun and can perform other key roles. Helicopter MRO Division is the nodal agency for execution of PBL contract along with Engine Division and other Sister Divisions of HAL.
Dr Ajay Kumar in his address praised the perseverance of the ICG and HAL by inducting these helicopters in testing times and progressing our Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Make in India’. He also brought out the importance of having these advanced helicopters for ICG to operate them across the spectrum of Coast Guard operations.
The ALH Mk-III marine version has been designed and developed with in-house customisation of 19 additional equipment by HAL to meet ICG requirements. The HAL will supply 16 ALH Mk-III to the ICG by mid next year. The helicopters are capable of undertaking embarked operations from ships which will enhance Coast Guard capabilities towards sea-air co-ordinated search, interdiction capabilities, coastal security, search and rescue operations, medical evacuation, humanitarian missions, pollution response missions, etc.
While appreciating ICG for the recently conducted successful operations of drugs & arms seizure and saving lives during cyclones Tauktae & YAAS, Defence Secretary said the capacity and capability augmentation of the service needs to be materialised in a time bound manner considering the onerous responsibilities bestowed on ICG by the Government.
Director General Coast Guard K Natarajan while acknowledging the efforts of Tatrakshaks for recent concurrent successful operations said that the ICG is as prepared as ever to discharge its duties and induction of ALH Mk-III will usher a new paradigm shift in our capability to undertake ship borne operations and enhance surveillance prowess with extended reach.
He also brought out that these helicopters will be deployed in a coordinated matrix along with ships and aircraft to strengthen the service capabilities in Area of Responsibility and beyond.
“Indian Coast Guard is also the first service to have Performance-Based Logistics management system introduced in aviation to ensure Helicopter Availability at four bases,” he added.
Speaking on the occasion, R Madhavan said, “With this contract, HAL is embarking on a new journey of Performance Based Logistics (PBL). The PBL will assure desired levels of availability of ALH MKIII fleet of ICG for six and half years, a unique feature of this contract and a first of its kind in HAL.”
Tags: #IndianCoastGuard #HAL, #Bengaluru . #IDU #teamIDU #advancelighthelicopter #MakeInIndia #AatmanirbharBharat
