Aviation milestone: Dhruv-NG civilian helicopter completes 1st flight in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)’s Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv–New Generation (NG) completed its maiden formation successful Bengaluru connected Tuesday, marking a measurement successful HAL’s propulsion to reposition the Dhruv level for civilian and export markets.Civil aviation curate K Ram Mohan Naidu termed it a milestone for India’s civilian aviation manufacturing ecosystem, highlighting person coordination betwixt manufacturers and regulators to trim certification timelines.

Designed and built by HAL, the 5.5-tonne, twin-engine, multi-role chopper builds connected the existing Dhruv platform, with upgrades focused connected safety, performance, thrust prime and rider comfort, portion retaining hot-andhigh operational capableness suited to Indian conditions.Dhruv-NG is powered by duplicate indigenous Shakti 1H1C engines — already certified by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) — offering higher powerfulness ratings and the vantage of in-country attraction and support. This improves self-reliance and lowers semipermanent operating and lifecycle costs, HAL stated.DGCA confirmed it has issued “a benignant certificate of India’s archetypal civilian turbo shaft motor — the Shakti 1H1C”.The motor is developed by AERDC–HAL, Bengaluru, and delivers a maximum continuous shaft powerfulness of 568KW. “We’ll beryllium conducting astir 130 flights implicit the adjacent mates of months utilizing 2 prototypes,” HAL CMD DK Sunil said.