On June 12, 2021, Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar inducted the first 3 of 16 Indigenous Advanced Light Helicopters (ALHs) MK III into Indian Coast Guard (ICG) to assist in coastal surveillance, rescue operations, and further enhance coastal security.
- ALHs MK III were the state-of-the-art helicopters that are indigenously designed and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
About HAL’s ALH MK-III:
i.HAL will design and develop the ALH Mk-III marine version with in-house customisation of 19 additional equipment to meet ICG requirements. It will supply all the 16 ALH Mk-III to the ICG by mid-2022.
ii.The helicopters could undertake embarked operations from ships which will in turn enhance the Coast Guard capabilities towards sea-air co-ordinated search, interdiction capabilities, coastal security, search and rescue operations, medical evacuation, humanitarian missions, pollution response missions, etc.
Positioning of ALH Mk-III:
i.After induction, the 16 ALH Mk-III will be positioned at 4 Coast Guard squadrons at Bhubaneshwar(Odisha), Porbandar(Gujarat), Kochi(Kerala), and Chennai (Tamil Nadu), for surveillance.
Performance Based Logistics (PBL):
i.With this contract, HAL embarked on a Performance Based Logistics (PBL), which will assure desired levels of availability of the ALH MKIII fleet of ICG for six and half years, a unique feature of this contract and a first of its kind in HAL.
- The PBL will provide a One Stop Solution for maintenance of complete Helicopter viz, Engine Servicing Task, Rotable Repair Task (RRT), Repair & Maintenance Spares Order (RMSO) etc.
- Helicopter MRO Division of HAL will be extending the support under PBL from 4 bases viz. Bhubaneswar, Porbandar, Chennai and Kochi.
ii.ICG is the 1st service to have PBL management system introduced in aviation to ensure Helicopter Availability at four bases
Participants – Chairman and Managing Director of HAL, R Madhavan and other senior officials of the Ministry of Defence also attended the event.
Recent Related News:
On April 19, 2021, Indian Naval Air Squadron (INAS) 323, the 1st Unit of the Indigenously built ALH (Advanced Light Helicopter) Mk-III Aircraft was commissioned into the Indian Navy at INS Hansa, Goa.
About Indian Coast Guard (ICG):
Director General Indian Coast Guard (DGICG) – Krishnaswamy Natarajan
Headquarters – New Delhi
About Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL):
Chairman and Managing Director (CMD)– R Madhavan
Headquarter– Bengaluru, Karnataka
