SOURCE : IDRW NEWS NETWORK

Indian army is finally acknowledging need for separate air power assets under its wings, world’s third largest standing army is set to explore all possibilities to upgrade and enhance their air fire power, and we will look at aerial assets Army plans to acquire in coming decade.

HAL Dhruv: Indian Army already has inducted more than 40 indigenously manufactured Dhruv helicopters and plans to induct 3 times more than in its current fleet ,Army will be largest operator among three service and is actively supporting Dhruv WSI Armed variant which is still under testing .

HAL Light Observation Helicopter (LOH): Hal’s Light Observation Helicopter project has full backing of the India army; LOH will be replacing ageing Cheetah and Chetek helicopters which form backbone of the India army’s aviation fleet. LOH is based on Single engined powered Shakti engine, which have similar appearance to HAL’s Dhruv helicopter, Army will also be acquiring LOH which will be purchased directly from a foreign vendor for which Contenders have already completed their trials.

HAL Light Combat Helicopter (LCH): a multirole combat helicopter which already has made it first flight last year and its second TD-2 prototype has already been displayed at recently held Aero India 2011 airshow in Bangalore. Combat helicopter have always been in Indian air forces possession, well it all going to change soon, India army has taken keen interest in the Project and has already deputed high ranked Helicopter pilots from its Aviation wing to the Project. As per sources Army has been actively guiding HAL on various fronts to improve the combat aircraft, and is also keen to acquire it in much bigger number then Air force, HAL has firm orders of 114 LCH from Indian Army but plans are to acquire more with better future variants, this will enable Indian Army to have the largest fleet of combat helicopters not only among three armed services but also in whole of Asia region. LCH equipped with Helina ATGM will play the role of Tank Busters for the Indian Army in near future.

Hal- Irkut Corporations Multi-role transport aircraft (MRTA): Hal and Russian company – Irkut Corporations is already working on 20 tons MRTA to replace aging An-32 from Indian air force, while An-32 was operated solely by Indian Air force, Indian Army is all set to order at least two dozen of this aircrafts for its own Aviation wings to help in transport of logistics and troops. This will be first time Indian army will be operating larger aircrafts. While MRTA will take to air by 2015 only and production will start by 2017, initial batch will go to Indian air force and Army will get them at near end of this decade.
UAV: Unmanned aerial Vehicles are already been planned by Indian army and some Foreign and locally developed UAV’s have already been inducted into Army , more currently in development like DRDO’s MALE and HALE UAV’s are also under radar of Indian army ,plans are there to induct them when their trials are over .