August 17, 2007	Friday	Sha’aban 3, 1428

BANGALORE: India carried out the first flight on Thursday of a weaponised combat helicopter it is developing to equip its armed forces as well as potential overseas customers, including Turkey.

State-run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) said the Dhruv (Pole Star) light helicopter was a ‘birthday gift’ to the nation.The multi-role Dhruv, equipped with ‘fire-and-forget’ air-to-air missile capability and advanced avionics, was test-flown at a HAL air field here.

The all-terrain, all-weather helicopter came with systems that provided imagery of terrain and targets in darkness, HAL officials said.

A pilot would merely need to look at the target and the helicopter’s 20mm swivel turret gun would automatically point to where it needs to fire its 70mm rockets. It will be equipped with anti-tank guided missiles later. “It has got everything to make it a very lethal machine for our military,” HAL Chairman Ashok Baweja told reporters.

The Dhruv has been under development for 23 years.

US sanctions after Indian nuclear tests in 1998 embargoed the engine originally intended to power the helicopter.

About 75 units of the unarmed version have been delivered to the Indian armed forces, Israel and Nepal since 2002.

India’s armed forces as well as the coastguard were likely to generate demand for 250 of the choppers, while civilian users might buy 50 non-weaponised versions, making for a combined market worth Rs105 billion, said Mr Baweja.—AFP