Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a new production hangar of Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bengaluru on Thursday (February 27). Both the Indian Army and Indian Navy have expressed their willingness to add the LCH in their arsenal with the Army ordering 114 and the Navy placing the order for 65 LCHs respectively.

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The Army is currently using India-made advanced light helicopter Rudra as its fighter helicopter, whereas, the Navy is using Russian built Mi-25, Mi-35 and the Apache attack helicopters that were bought from the US in 2019.

According to the HAL officials, the new production hangar will help in making 30 LCH annually. Notably, the Bengaluru-based HAL has designed as well as developed the LCH.

The LCH comes equipped with two powerful engines, which are more compact as compared to the engines of other attack helicopters. There is a 3-wheeled landing gear to withstand the pressure of a crash. It has been designed in a way so that it can't be noticed easily and it has been made stronger to evade attacks. The LCH has already been landed on a base in Siachen at a height of 15,000ft with 500 kg weight in order to check its strength.

A pilot's helmet in an LCH has been equipped with a machine gun control, which enables the pilot to fire the machine gun in the direction where the pilot is looking. The LCH has got the capacity to carry four anti-tank missiles or rockets. It also has an electronic warfare suit to protect it from several kinds of electronic attacks. It is also packed with an air-to-air France-made Mistral Missile.