HAL's Navy and Coast Guard MK-III version of Dhruv Helicopter

Design and development of the ALH’s tail boom & horizontal stabiliser folding feature for meeting ship borne helicopter stowage requirements was demonstrated on 7 November 2020 with an DHRUV Mk-III DWDM prototype helicopter. In combination with the existing two blade folding, the achieved stowage dimension of ALH “13.5 m length, 3.5 m width and 4.1 m height meets the Navy’s NUH specification”. Qualification and certification of the tail boom scheme is expected to be completed by February 2021.

The helicopter, differs from the previous version of ALH, or ‘Dhruv’ in the terms of the more powerful ‘Shakti’ engines, full glass cockpit and the integrated Electronic Warfare (EW) suite. The various systems integrated into the helicopter make it a highly manoeuvrable and potent platform for military operations by day as well as by night. The induction of DHRUV MK-III with foldable tail boom is being regarded an important milestone in the Indian aviation industry as well as towards modernisation plan of the Indian Navy.

For Indian Air Force

The DHRUV MK-III has been inducted in 111 Helicopter Unit (111 HU) of IAF, which was operating with Chetak and Cheetah helicopters earlier. With the new induction, the unit would be better equipped to continue the task of humanitarian relief, casualty evacuation from the Himalayan ranges as well as search and rescue operations along with regular military operations.

Aero India News