Dhruv back in the skies after 6-month grounding

New Delhi, June 9 (UNI) After many a hiccup, the country's indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter 'Dhruv' is once again back in the skies.

Grounded following the crash on November 25 last of a civilian variant -- ordered by a state government -- due to a defect in tail rotors, the versatile 'Dhruv' was back flying in the skies earlier this week after clearance by relevant certification agencies after rigorous checks, according to Chairman AK Baweja of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) -- who designed and developed the multi-role state-of-art helicopter.

The 46-strong Dhruv fleet in the Armed Forces was grounded after Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) identified a fault in the tail rotor blades. Blades of a particular batch had some snags but these were not related to design deficiencies. Investigations following the November 2005 accident led HAL to issue a technical advisory to all operators of the medium-twin helicopter.

The grounding of the Dhruv fleet came at an inopportune time for the country's defence establishment. HAL had an order book of about 300 Dhruv helicopters from the three defence services and the Coast Guard and was scouting for export orders with its teams seeking to market the helicopter abroad, particularly in Russia and Chile.

HAL Chairman Baweja -- here to receive for his company the Defence Minister's 'Awards for Excellence' in performance for the year 2003-04 -- said the 'Dhruv' helicopters were being cleared for flying at the rate of a dozen a month and soon the whole fleet with the Armed Forces would be back in the skies.

He firmly rejected reports that HAL had received cancellation of orders for the choppers. Instead, the company was pressing ahead full speed to meet firm orders for 72 Advanced Light Helicopters from the three Services, he said.

HAL was also pressing ahead for bidding for a Chilean Armed Forces order for light helicopters as also interest shown by the Turkish Armed Forces in the 'Dhruv'.

UNI DG YA VV1851