The helicopter demonstrated its payload capability in Siachen glacier. After completing its task, the helicopter landed at the highest helipads of Amar and Sonam

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the company which developed Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) has finished its hot and high-altitude trials in the Himalayas, the reports stated on Wednesday.

The LUH lifted off from Leh and demonstrated the hot and high hover performance at Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) at 5000 MAMSL, the HAL said in a release.

It also showed its payload capability in Siachen glacier high altitude.

After completing its task, the helicopter landed at the highest helipads of Amar and Sonam.

The LUH showed its high altitude capability in hot and high weather conditions at Daulat Beg Oldie in the Himalayas for about 10 days. 

Director (Engineering and R&D) (HAL) Arup Chatterjee said the performance of the helicopter and its systems is satisfactory and fulfils the requirements of the users.

HAL CMD, R Madhavan said that Army version of LUH is now ready for Initial Operational Clearance.

The flights were carried out by a composite trial team which included pilots from HAL, Wg Cdr (Retd) Unni Pillai, CTP (RW), Wg Cdr (Retd) Anil Bhambani, Gp Capt (Retd) Pupinder Singh and Gp Capt V Panwar along with Gp Capt R Dubey, Sq Ldr Joshi from Indian Air Force and Lt Col R Grewal & Lt Col Pawan from the Indian Army. 

The Initial Operational Clearance for basic LUH was accorded by CEMILAC (Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification) for the IAF variant on February seven, 2020, HAL said.