Background The first seven-seater French-origin
Alouette III helicopters were introduced by the
Indian Air Force (IAF) in 1962. During 1965, the Indian aerospace company
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) supplied the IAF with its first
license-produced Alouette III, named HAL Chetak. During 1970, HAL received a contract to license-produce the five-seater
SA-315B Lama helicopter, under the name HAL Cheetah, which were first delivered to the IAF in 1976. During the 1990s, the impending need for a successor to the aging Cheetah and Chetak fleets of the
Indian Army (IA) and the IAF had been recognized. New impartiality
safeguards were enacted and the procurement process was restarted. in a fly-away condition directly from the manufacturer for a quick delivery. In February 2012, Eurocopter wrote a letter to the IA amid the delays. The technical evaluation stage had taken 38 months without a formal conclusion due to an undisclosed reason. By November 2012, the competition was reportedly in the final stage between the Fennec and Ka-226T. On 30 August 2014, the tender was officially redacted by the then
defence minister,
Arun Jaitley. By 2015, the IA and IAF had a requirement of 259 and 125 light helicopters, respectively. While 197 of the joint requirement of 384 helicopters was being sought from the cancelled global tender, the remaining of 187 was to be sought from domestic suppliers. The production would be undertaken at the
HAL Helicopter Factory, Tumakuru. On 24 December, an Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) for the project was signed between India and Russia in
Moscow. During October 2016, the Shareholders Agreement to establish of a joint venture to manufacture the Ka-226T in India was signed by the
CEO of
Russian Helicopters (RH) and the CMD of
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). In the joint venture, HAL would hold a 50.5% stake while the RH and
Rosoboronexport would control the rest of 49.5%. Further, 60 helicopters would be received in fly-away conditions, 40 would be assembled in Indian facilities and the rest of 100 would be produced in India. The Indo Russia Helicopters Limited (IRHL) was incorporated in May 2017. The first batch of 60 would be imported directly from the
Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant of RH while the rest would be assembled in India with kits from Ulan-Ude. However, the contract was yet to be signed in November 2021, the Ka-226T purchase had been put on hold due to cost and indigenous content disputes; by August 2022, it was stated that geopolitical factors following the
Russo-Ukrainian war from 2022 the deal was expected to be dropped. The Ka-226T deal was cancelled by November 2023. The replacement of the six-decade old fleet of 186 Chetaks and 200 Cheetahs operated by the IA and IAF is likely to take at least a decade as reported in November 2023. The IA has a requirement of 250 helicopters for reconnaissance and light lift roles, and the service also sent out an
RFI to lease 20 reconnaissance and surveillance helicopters (RSH) for five years to close the gap. The RFI responses were being studied in November 2023 when the IA's fleet had 190 helicopters, of which 134 were between 30 and 50 years old, with at least 25 units in
MRO at HAL at any given time. During the early 1990s, the fleet had 246 helicopters. Further, the leftover service life, or Total Technical Life (TTL), of the oldest batch of in-service Chetaks ends in 2027. Also, the IAF operates 120 such helicopters, including 18 Cheetals, a modernised variant of Cheetah. The first commissioned batch had already been grounded. The fleet would be replaced through two programmes — HAL Light Utility Helicopter and the
Reconnaissance and Surveillance Helicopters (RSH). During February 2009,
India's defence ministry gave "in-principle" approval to HAL's proposal to manufacture 187 light utility helicopters for the IA and the IAF by 2017. This allowed HAL to enter the design phase of an indigenous programme that could potentially meet the requirements of the armed forces and also explore foreign partnership arrangements. This helicopter was expected to be delivered in five or six years and belong to the 3 tonne category, with a range of up to and a payload capacity of up to . The LUH is separate from the
Advanced Light Helicopter and
Light Combat Helicopter programmes. Of the 187 LUHs, 126 would be inducted into the IA and the remaining 61 are for the IAF. The helicopter could be modified for civilian applications as well. In March 2010, HAL announced that it had decided to proceed on the project without any foreign consultant. Earlier, the winner of the 197 helicopter tender was expected to be the foreign collaborator for this development programme. However, the trials which were expected to begin in 2009 was delayed to mid-2010 with the shortlisted bidders to be announced by 2011. The helicopter, also referred to as Light Observation Helicopter, would be powered by a single
HAL/Turbomeca Shakti turboshaft engine and the maiden flight was scheduled by 2015. In February 2011, HAL unveiled a full-sized LUH mockup; the LUH's design was officially frozen at this point, although some elements, such as the powerplant, were yet to be selected; additionally, the first prototype was anticipated to be constructed by the end of 2012 and the first flight was set to occur during 2013. In March 2014, HAL promoted the LUH as a civilian multirole helicopter, noting it could be configured to carry up to six passengers. Meanwhile, the first flight was pushed back to 2017. By April 2015, the programme had been delayed multiple times. As per a May 2016 report, the project timeline called for four prototypes by 2017 and the start of
serial production by 2018.
Test programme Lt Gen AK Suri with LUH. Following repeated delays to the type's first flight, on 6 September 2016, the first prototype LUH PT-1 (ZG4620) conduct its
maiden flight from HAL's
Bangalore manufacturing facility. The maiden flight, which lasted for 15 minutes and was reportedly flown without any issues, marked the commencement of flight testing. On 22 May 2017, the second prototype performed its first flight. The LUH flew at 6 km altitude Envelope Expansion Test at Bengaluru, a critical certification requirement, in December 2018. On 14 December 2018, the third prototype PT-3 had its maiden flight. In 2018, the LUH finished hot weather trials at
Nagpur. Testing at sea-level altitudes was completed at
Chennai in 2018 and at
Puducherry in 2019. In January 2019, the LUH successfully completed cold weather trials. The LUH undertook successful high altitude hot weather trials between 24 August and 2 September 2019. The three prototypes had cumulatively performed over 550 flights by this point. On 9 September 2020, HAL announced the completion of a final demonstration trial, which had been requested by the Army prior to
mass production of the LUH; this trial involved envelope expansion, performance, flying qualities, payload and landing capabilities at the highest altitudes of
Siachen Glacier. The
Final Operational Clearance (FOC) was planned for 2021, following tests focused on its automatic flight control system (AFCS). By 2021, all certification activities, including ground testing, system testing, and flight trials under various conditions, were completed and the design met all of the Armed Forces' Preliminary Joint Services Qualitative Requirements (PJSQR). The IA's LUH variant received the
Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) from CEMILAC in the presence of
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at
Aero India 2021 on 5 February 2021. On 7 October 2021, Director General of
Army Aviation Corps,
Lieutenant General AK Suri, flew the LUH's final test
sortie, successfully completing the Army Acceptance Trial. The LUH was stated to have reached readiness for induction by the Indian Armed Forces. From August 2022, flight trials started of the
limited series production (LSP) platform. In late 2022, the
Indian Coast Guard Director General,
V S Pathania, led a delegation of officials to HAL, during which he undertook a 45-minute sortie in the LUH. The ICG is evaluating the LUH as a possible replacement for its Chetak fleet. By November 2023, certain critical systems were still under testing while the Services expected certification and large-scale order within 18 to 20 months. In early 2025, the Safran-supplied
flight control system software was undergoing certification after which the LUH will finally enter production.
Manufacturing Production facility The primary facility for the helicopter's
serial production was established in the
Tumakuru district. A plaque for the foundation stone was unveiled by the
Prime Minister of India,
Narendra Modi, on 3 January 2016. The initial investment amounted to with an annual production capacity of 30 helicopters from 2019–20. The rate would be later enhanced to 60 units in a four-year long phase II development. The
limited series production (LSP), however, would be conducted at HAL's Bengaluru facility.
Limited series production The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on 2 November 2021 approved the purchase of 12
limited series production (LSP) LUHs, at a cost of , By August 2022, HAL had received a
Letter of Intent (LoI) from the Services to manufacture 12 LUHs, two of which were already in advanced stages of production. Additionally, a
Request for Quotation had also been issued to HAL for a large order. Against the original commitment of 126 units, the IA is expected to purchase 111 LUHs.
Indian Army order By November 2023, the IA was planning to place an initial order worth for over 90 helicopters and has a total requirement of around 250 helicopters. Around this time, a combined order for the three branches of India's Armed Forces is expected to be finalized within the next 18-20 months, with deliveries projected to commence from 2026 onward. ==Design==