Indian Army will order soon 15 indigenous Light Combat Helicopter LCH produced by HAL.
During November 2016, the Indian Ministry of Defense (MoD) authorized the purchase of an initial batch of 15 LCHs for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Indian Army Air Corps (AAC), referred to as being a limited series production order. By mid-2017, the AAC had placed combined orders for 114 LCHs, while the IAF had a total of 65 LCHs on order. During early 2017, it was reported that the LCH’s initial operating capability (IOC) with the Indian armed forces was expected to occur by 2018. The AAC intended to deploy the indigenous LCH alongside the American-built Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.
The HAL Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) is a multirole combat helicopter, designed to perform various attack profiles, including relatively high altitude flight. Equipped with a two-person tandem cockpit to accommodate a pilot and co-pilot/gunner, it has been developed to perform both the anti-infantry and anti-armor missions.