India's Prachand attack helicopter, everything you need to know.

The roots of the start of the idea of developing a highly advanced multirole light combat helicopter (LCH) for Indian Military uses came from the India-Pakistan Kargil war, fought in 1999.

India faced much incapability while trying to attack enemy at high altitudes of Kargil hills.

So fast-forward, both HAL and the Indian armed forces put much effort in making a combat helicopter to perform such roles.

On 26 August 2017, limited series production of the Prachand was formally inaugurated. The LCH was declared ready for production in February 2020.

• India’s defence industry will see boost with the entry of first ever made in India helicopter.

• 95 Prachand helicopters will go to the Indian Army, some of these flying machines have already entered the service.

• Approximately 65 of the helicopter will go to the Indian Air Force.

• Prachand is a 5.8-ton twin-engine helicopter that carries armoured-protection systems, with various weapon carrying capability such includes, air to surface anti tank munitions, air-to-air missiles, and other heavy payloads.

• Newer versions of the light attack chopper will be added to the service in future.

• It has been designed, and its integration is entirely Indian.

The officials said it has state-of-the-art technologies and systems compatible with stealth features such as reduced visual, aural, radar and IR signatures and crashworthiness features for better survivability have been integrated into the LCH for deployment in combat roles.

These choppers are capable of good manoeuvrability, night attacks, crash-worthy landing gear for better survivability, high altitude performance and all-weather combat capability with extended range, according to the officials.

It can perform tasks like combat search and rescue (CSAR), destruction of enemy air defence (DEAD) and counter-insurgency (CI) operations, high-altitude bunker-busting operations, counter-insurgency operations in the jungles and urban environments, as well as for supporting ground forces.

The helicopter can also be used against slow-moving aircraft and remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs) of adversaries.

Engine:

• Prachand is a Dual Engine chopper, Russian MI-35 is also operates with dual Engine.

Profile:

Prachand is a multirole combat helicopter, designed to perform various attack profiles, including relatively high altitude flight. Russian made MI-35 is a Attack/transport helicopter, with good manoeuvrability.

Armament:

• The Prachand has Guns: 1 x 20 mm M621 cannon on Nexter THL-20 turret, Hardpoints: 4, and can be loded with Anti-tank guided missile, Air-to-air missiles, various bombs and rockets. The Mi-35M is armed with a mounted twin-barrel GSh-23V 23 millimeter cannon and 80 and 120 millimeter rockets, as well as anti-tank guided missiles.

NOTE: The above data is derived from various internet sources as well as Wikipedia, and we cannot guarantee any data credibility to a 100% (percent.)

NOTE: The above article is for information purpose only.