Hal UNFIT TO SELL ANY
AIRCRAFT TO ANOTHER COUNTRY
THE HAL DHRUV ADVANCED LIGHT HELICOPTER FIASCO
A Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) made Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) crashed in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district today, 04 May 2023, killing one of the three crew members on board. The other two were seriously injured. The Dhruv fleet was grounded till this Tuesday, 02 May 2023. This accident came close on the heels of the recent Indian Navy accident, where a Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) from the Indian Navy’s newly acquired fleet of ALH Mk-3 MR ditched close to the coast off Mumbai in the forenoon hours of March 8, 2023. The helicopter experienced a “sudden loss of power and rapid loss of height”. The crew (two pilots and one aircrewman diver) who managed to carry out a controlled ditching exited the aircraft and were recovered safely.
The Truth Hurts, Says Indian Navy’s 1st
Dhruv Flight Commander:
I’m a second-generation helicopter pilot and have been
flying rotary-wing machines since 1989. Of course, the primary amount of flying
has been on HAL-built aircraft, the Chetak and the ALH and of course, the
Kiran.
I’m quite saddened by the slew of remarks against a
former CNS, himself a decorated pilot. HAL has often taken one or two points in
which there may be a slip-up, and highlighted only these points, thereby
glossing over the crux of the matter. In this case, the crux of the matter is
blade folding, not the “automatic” part that inadvertently came up. I have been
in the field at the helm of affairs when the Naval ALH were taken on board the
aircraft carrier for the first time. The idea was to test out the helicopter in
the role that it was destined for. Sadly, the maiden embarkation on board the
carrier was a challenge that the helicopter could not live up to.
Blade folding is a major sticking point that is
currently being discussed. The navy had specified to HAL the requirement of a
3.5 m blade-folded width right from the very start. This was based on the
shipborne requirements because, after all, the helicopter would have to land on
a ship and be stowed in the hangar after folding the blades. At sea, the requirement
is also for a quick and easy way of folding the blades. Just like the Chetak or
the Kamov, or the Sea King. Logically then, HAL should have thought about this
as a major design shortcoming before even offering a helicopter with any width
greater than 3.5 m. The navy had contributed a fair amount of money towards the
development of the indigenous helicopter, yet it is quite clear that the blade
folding requirement was not given its importance even during basic design at
HAL. The navy as usual was forced to accept an initial lot of helicopters
under concession.
It is always the crew that is pressurised to support the ‘indigenous effort’ and were as usual told to at least start flying the
helicopter and gain some experience. This was for the first 8 helicopters.
Today, this very acceptance of a concession is being turned around to twist the
Navy’s tail by making statements like the Navy and HAL should sit together to
discuss these points and engage HAL to let them know what the Navy wants.
As a solution about fifteen years back, HAL had made
the suggestion that the Navy should accept the method where one blade remains
forward and the other three go back. For this, HAL actually suggested that the Navy
should cut holes in the helicopter hangar for the front-facing blade – a classic
case of making the hand fit the glove. The thing is, these suggestions are
often made at the MoD level, and the impression given is that the Navy is
adamant about not taking this option. Similarly, the concession given to HAL was
to achieve a 5.4 m folded width, to begin with, instead of 3.5 m. They could not
meet even this 5.4 m, and the constant complaint in any forum was that the Navy
cannot accept even 0.2 m more than the required width – conveniently forgetting
that the 0.2 m was from the 5.4 m, not the original requirement of 3.5m.
The problem in all this is that the person on the top
does not have the background and the time to understand the nuances and gets
convinced that the Navy is putting unreasonable demands. The segmented blade
folding option was discussed way back in 2005-06, so there is no reason that
HAL should not already have done this over the last fifteen years if they were
serious. At that time HAL had wanted the Navy to sponsor the study and trials.
There is nothing new in segmented blade folding. The Chetak has got a two-piece
blade from 1960 onward. Retrofitting the ALH for segmented blade folding will
not only increase weight but should also involve hundreds of hours of testing.
And I’m not sure whether to trust the results of these flight tests, given the
efficacy of the rigorous testing that HAL does.
To give everyone a clear viewpoint of the blade folding
procedure, there were a total of 64 loose items that had to be removed, used and fitted back at the time the kit was offered in 2005. This took over half an
hour, though a timing of 22 minutes or so was demonstrated using five HAL
personnel and safely on the ground with no wind and no rolling and pitching of the
deck. I can’t imagine five personnel being employed for folding the blade in a
procedure that takes over 20 minutes. During folding on board the carrier the
first helicopter became unserviceable because the lining on the blade came off
as soon as we folded and put back the blades. On the second aircraft, the bolt
broke. HAL will claim that they have rectified this, by putting the lining on
the bolt and using a better material for the bolt. They also would have reduced
the number of items. But the procedure still takes too long, and at sea, this
becomes a danger from submarines to the ship which has to maintain a steady
course.
To come back to the point, the biggest problem again
here is that the customer which is the Indian Navy, was given a product that
did not fit the bill. Once again fault is being found with the Indian Navy for
not supporting indigenous development. And the crux of the matter is being
diverted by focusing the attention on the term ‘automatic blade folding’ that
wasn’t asked for, only a convenient and quick blade folding.
Let us go to the testing philosophy of HAL, which many
of the crew felt was suspect. The (in) famous crash of the first civilian Dhruv
after takeoff from Hyderabad was completely avoidable. For those of you who may
not remember, the Government of Jharkhand ALH while on a ferry from Hyderabad to
Ranchi, lost the tail rotor at cruising altitude, and had to force-land. The
aircraft was a write-off, but the crew survived.
Before emphasising the survivability of the ALH, I’d
like to point out that this failure occurred in cruise, at normal forward
speed, and there was more than enough time for emergency actions, by the
experienced test pilot that was flying the helicopter. If this had happened at
hover, it was certain death. Now, a few months before this while ferrying a
naval ALH to Visakhapatnam, the tail rotor gearbox had sheared off, and was
hanging on just two supports. We could see the entire rotor disc shaking
vigorously at hover, and it was quite scary. After landing, it was with horror
that the crew found a nearly 8-inch portion of the tail rotor blade leading
edge had flown off. This imbalance caused excessive vibrations and damage to
the tail gearbox. Another few minutes and this tail rotor would have flown off
too.
This was a serious matter and was taken up with HAL. They
provided the simplistic solution of changing the tail rotor blades and the tail
gearbox on board the ship and expected the crew to fly the helicopter as if
nothing had happened. When questioned about the analysis and the steps taken to
prevent a recurrence, the HAL staff were surprised why we were questioning their
superior method of addressing the problem. To them, the defective item had been
replaced with another one, and voila! Good to go.
When we asked them about a similar thing happening on
the new tail rotor, the answer was, “We have tested this and it is okay”. Well,
the one that broke also was tested, right? In all this, we found that one more
helicopter tail gearbox had a crack in a similar place (two down out of only
three on board the ship). HAL remained unfazed and claimed that the two cracks
were unrelated, and the other helicopter gearbox had cracked due to “over-shimming”
so we were not to bother. They would replace the other gearbox too. Nice
solution. Overshimming -This had obviously been done at the manufacturing facility.
Why was not the person responsible for this over-shimming brought to task? If
it were found that a Naval technician had missed out on something important, there
would be some disciplinary action if it was negligence and a method of
addressing the issue if it was procedural. Not sure if the person who signed
off on the paper clearing that helicopter for the flight was taken to task or not.
At this point, HAL should have done a proper analysis
of the cause and taken corrective actions for the tail rotor blade debonding. If
they had done the study, then possibly the crash of the ill-fated civilian ALH
on a ferry from Hyderabad to Ranchi in November of that year, would have been
avoided. This is a clear case of, well, so many things. There were many other findings
that came as a result of this accident. A peculiar one was that the CVR/FDR
stopped recording after both engines were shut down. The simple fact of
ensuring that the vital black box is connected to the battery when both engines
were shut down had been missed out during design. So, when the generators
stopped working, so did the crucial recording device. We all keep wondering
what other crucial things had been missed out by design.
I’m not sure of the actual effect of any disciplinary
action taken after the crash of the first civilian ALH because there were many
problems found in the processes being followed in the manufacture of the blades.
Among them, is the process of manufacturing composite tail rotor blades. The
entire fleet was grounded for six to eight months until we got replacement
blades. Again, these blades started showing signs of cracking up of the resin
coating. HAL said it was not a problem. Photographs are scary.
There have been a few crashes on the ALH in the recent
past. Two Army aviators lost their lives and in the latest one, the Army
Commander was on board, when a critical component in the control chain failed.
This kind of failure is unheard of in any modern helicopter and puts a cloud
on whether the testing of any modifications is really exhaustive or just
that there is some aspect missed out either by ignorance or act of omission. I
do not want to elaborate further, because the cause is not yet finalised, but
so many crashes in such a short time do bring about a very big trust deficit.
After this embarkation on board the aircraft carrier,
there was a detailed analysis carried out internally and it was fairly well
concluded that this helicopter would not meet the exacting requirements of
Naval flying from ships, and the problem areas were highlighted to HAL.
Well before we embarked on the carrier, we had to contend
with many other issues. The strangest one was that whenever it rained, it
poured inside the cockpit. Water would come through the overhead CB panel, and
pour on the collective pitch where the engine control was located. Water would
drip on the instrument panel. Water would drip on the passenger seats. I
remember the AME of the civilian Dhruv telling me that the ONGC Chairman when
flying on board the civilian ALH once had to use a newspaper to shield himself
from rain. HAL will again claim that this point has been addressed. But the
main issue again begs the question, why was this not checked out in design and
before delivery?
As far as the Indian Navy went, we were the most
problematic customers for HAL. We would demand that the helicopter be fully
free from any rainwater leakage, we would insist that all the documentation
had to be in order and that all instruments had to be fully functional before
we left the facility. We would make sure that there was no defect on the
helicopter before leaving for the unit. The crew were very sure that once we
took off from the helipad to take the helicopter back, we would get no support
from HAL. The advantage of the Navy was that our sailors and officers had
worked with Western technologies for a very long time with the Sea King, the
Sea Harrier etc. The procedures laid out from so many years of following
internationally laid down standards in acceptance procedures made the Navy a
very painful customer for HAL. HAL may state that they have addressed many of
these problems in Mark 3, but why should the problem be there in the
first place? Would you accept a car from a dealer that leaks rainwater? HAL
designers and others at the plant would often claim that this was the first
time they were making a helicopter, so there would be some ups and downs. This
excuse even then was completely untenable, because HAL as an organisation
manufactured everything from spacecraft components and supersonic fighters to
propeller trainers. this is not because HAL is the best, but because nobody
else has been permitted to do this. There is no bigger tragedy for the nation
than not allowing any competition. Ask any Services pilot and you will hear the
truth – the finished aircraft lack quality, HAL lacks commitment and most of
all an unwillingness to face the truth. I’ve rarely if at all heard anything
good being said about the HAL. If this is indeed the case, why is it that the
opinion of the real customer is never taken, the pilot in the field?
The real question to ask is that if HAL is indeed so
capable and the ALH is really a world-class helicopter why is it that there are
no sales in the civil market and for Military Export? The issue seems to be
that HAL has set its standards very low by any yardstick, and it reminds me of
the saying that goes “The real problem is not that I will set my standards too
high and fail, but that I will set the standards too low and succeed”.
Successive HAL products have been pushed down the throats of the reluctant
Armed Forces, and they are in no position to refuse – unwilling customers that
cannot say no, for various reasons. The correct thing to do for HAL would be to
challenge the globally established players; prove that the helicopter and the
Company is right up there along with the best. This in itself will ensure that
the Services come willingly to the table to buy the ALH for their own use.
Following the 2007 crash of IAF’s helicopter display
team’s Dhruv, a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report from 2010
highlighted the fractured relationship between HAL and the IAF. The report
blamed HAL for compromising with professionalism to protect its business
interests, which in turn could have serious implications for the safety of the
people flying and operating the machine. The report also highlighted the
problem of “cyclic saturation” with the helicopters, which caused two of the
crashes (including the one in 2007). This technical oversight had also
reportedly cost HAL a contract with Chile for the sale of the helicopters.
I also perceived a lack of professionalism at HAL. To
list out some:
During acceptances at HAL, we would find that
individual components would have been switched from other helicopters. In other
words, the log card would state that for eg, the fuel pump serial no 12345 was
installed, but the actual item on the aircraft would be serial no 98765. Once
we realised this, then it became de-rigueur to physically inspect each and
every component to check that the component is correct. HAL was concerned
about this, and would say, why are you so fussy? Why is this so important, you may ask. It’s
important because each component has certain flying hours and a defect history
that is recorded in the log card, and ensures that nothing which is defective
or with more flying hours on it than recorded is installed. Would you ever
think of doing something like this from any foreign vendor? One expects a
certain level of integrity and honesty from any vendor, especially a PSU that
is supposed to be trustworthy.
The Final assembly line of the helicopter used to be very bad. There was no proper hygiene maintained. For eg, all the metal filings from the drilled holes would fall to the aircraft floor, never to be cleared. There was no template being used for the drilling of holes, so each panel had to be hand-crafted because there was nothing standardised. I have personally seen people working on the open Main Gearbox / IDS with tools and pens sticking out of their pockets. Anything could fall out of the pocket into the gearbox, causing dents and leakages. We have removed ballpoint pens and nuts/bolts under the floorboard, in the area of the floatation gear bottles after hours of flying. A very dangerous incident was when we had sparking and melting of the alternator cables. Never heard of! The HAL solution was to replace the cables. All was well, and the team that had come with the cable, told our engineer, that the cable was too long, and they wanted to use tie wraps (or tie-wire) to secure it. Fortunately for us, the designer also came by that day to find out what was wrong. He was horrified to find that the persons installing the new cable did not have a wiring diagram and had routed the cables incorrectly. This was the reason there was ‘extra’ cable. We were saved a repeat of this. There were so many places all over the aircraft where cable bundles were secured with a tie wrap due to which the cables got cut. This was because of the vibrations on the aircraft, and the cables likely not being routed correctly. It is likely that many of these are corrected, so I will not dwell too long on these points, but such a lack of basic engineering hygiene and procedures invariably led to many failures. This is completely unacceptable from any standpoint in a manufacturing company that specialises in Aerospace components and aircraft.
One day we came back from a sortie during which we
noticed the GPS position not showing. On return, we found that both the GPS
antennae had flown off. When I called HAL, I was horrified when I was told that
we were not the only ones – so why didn’t they tell us in time? This meant that
they knew this was happening. It was a faulty design of the antenna mounting
bracket and we found cracks on all of them on other helicopters.
While I can go on about individual incidents, the
crucial point is the way that HAL handles any defect reported by the customer.
There seems to be very little accountability. When the
customer reports a problem, especially grave problems, the manufacturer must
find out the deeper reason for the defect or failure. In Mathematics, it is
called ‘deriving from first principles’. The manufacturing process has to be
vetted. There could be a flaw in the assembly line, or there could be a problem
with the particular tooling used to put together the component. Or there could
be just plain carelessness. Like in the case of the alternator wire. While
punitive action may not be always necessary, some amount of discipline is
required. As customers, the Service pilots never get to know whether the root
cause has been addressed – all that we used to receive was a defect summary
that did not tell us what exactly has been done.
The way HAL handles most defects is a replacement,
without really going into the root of the problem. The tail rotor issue on the
ALH is one example, that I have written about. I was not satisfied with the
resolution of the problem and refused to fly the helicopter from the Carrier
at the time.
The other point is about the way that the design bureau
looks at designing a helicopter. A couple of examples are in order. The engine
cowlings on any helicopter are designed to open upwards, sometimes they open
downwards so that people can stand on the cowlings and work on the engines. Not
for ALH. The initial design required two technicians to climb on a huge
platform and open about a dozen and half fasteners, and then the entire cowling
had to be taken down like an eggshell and laid on the ground. It was only
after many meetings with the Navy, that HAL agreed to cowlings with hinged
clamshells that would open downwards providing a platform for the worker to
stand on. The quality of these clamshells was so bad, that they would bend and
break at times. This point will also possibly be refuted by HAL as having been
addressed, but the issue is that this should not have happened in the first
place at the time.
I actually casually asked some of the designers whether
they had ever worked on, or closely studied any other existing type of
helicopter, to see the crucial design issues and other small modifications or
attention to detail they had done. “No” was the answer. They seemed genuinely
surprised about my asking and proudly said all of them were PGs, with some
either holding or pursuing Doctorates, (so why would anyone want them to look
at other helicopters). My point was also important because it is only when you
have physically worked on any helicopter in the field, will you understand the
day-to-day problems with regard to accessibility, Human-Machine Interface (HMI)
issues and the like. They will also see how other manufacturers have
addressed issues that they may have faced. Many of these are simple solutions,
may not be patented and can easily be adopted. One simple example is the
hand holds provided to climb on the engine deck. The HAL has provided handles
made similar to commercial cupboard door handles, sticking out into the
airflow. Even these door-type handles were so badly made, that one of them
broke when a sailor was climbing on top, and broke his hand. We are fortunate
he was alive. What happens if he falls overboard? I’m sure HAL would have then
provided a heavier handhold, and come up with some theory that the person
should be more careful when climbing up or something like that, rather than
addressing the core issue. Other manufacturers have provided spring-loaded
flaps, so that the flap goes in when you put your hand or foot, and the flap
provides a smooth finish to reduce drag in flight. It must be understood that
all most of the other manufacturers worldwide have adequate staff on design
and production who have a lot of experience in the field, and therefore
know and understand the problems faced by the man in the heat of the battle
when tasked to service and to fly the helicopter.
Another point is that there is no independent thought
or foresight. A simple example – I also asked one of those on the LUH design
team in the Design Bureau, whether they had considered the commonality of parts
between the ALH and the LUH. Again, they were surprised, and asked me why is
this relevant? Now, if I need to answer that question here in this article,
then evidently, the reader has no authority to comment on anything written
here.
Coming back to the issue of customer base, the LUH
could have been developed and matured in the civil market, and then offered to
the Services, if HAL were so confident that the product was good. It must be
realised that the civil world has no time to waste on the downtime of aircraft.
Time is money, and they cannot afford the luxury of downtime like the Services
have to. Penalties are extremely harsh, and could even be up to a lakh of
rupees per half hour of delay in the positioning of the helicopter. ONGC and all
Oil Companies impose such penalties on the helicopter companies. I myself was
working on a contract where the only downtime permitted for the single helicopter
was 48 hours in a month, non-cumulative. Can anyone be confident of providing
such a commitment were he to operate the ALH?
All pilots will have personal instances of an
indifferent attitude or a deliberate
wrong being done at the factory, just to get the aircraft off their backs. Our
unit once took three months to accept a helicopter from HAL. This delay was
because of recurrent problems with vibrations, rainwater leakage, components
not matching, the list is endless- but we didn’t budge. Can you think of any
other manufacturer that will take so long to deliver a helicopter that has only
just come out of servicing?
Before we go too deep into how and whether HAL
should be considered to provide the Navy with the 111 helicopters needed to
replace the Chetak, we should first consider the current state of our
Military-Industrial-Complex. A large part of the income from exports of any
major industrialised nations comes from weapons/systems sales. India has
practically none that really matters.
Incidentally, ALH helicopters were sent to Nepal,
Israel and Ecuador. The HAL crew really put in a lot of effort for preparing
the first of the civil helicopters to be sent abroad to Israel, in 2005 or
2006. A lot of effort meant they did a very good paint job. I’m not sure if
the rainwater leakage was fixed or not, but the difference in the quality of the paint job between that helicopter and the one they had prepared for the Navy
was enormous. Just like the “Export Quality” goods that used to be advertised
in India. The HAL had a marketing contract with an Israeli firm, which nobody
is talking about. If the ALH was indeed manna from heaven, then why did this
marketing contract not produce the desired results? Israel promptly returned
the civil registration helicopter and this is never mentioned anywhere by HAL.
I’m not sure if Nepal is still flying their ALH. Ecuador has grounded all their
remaining helicopters after some of them crashed, one quite spectacularly
during a parade and cancelled the contract. HAL claims this is pilot error, and
the customer thinks otherwise. In any case, there was a trust deficit and
Ecuador cancelled the contract, mainly, because they were at liberty to do so,
unlike the Indian Armed Forces. HAL had exported one ALH on contract to Israel
which they returned to HAL because they didn’t find it good enough. This and
the aircraft sold to Ecuador most of which crashed is not even a drop in the
ocean of defence sales. The ALH with Nepal and Maldives were gifted by the
Government of India, not purchased by them out of choice.
The Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) in many ways
tries to address this shortcoming of the Military-Industrial-Complex. It is
clearly stated in the preamble that “A need has also been felt for identifying
strategic partners for promoting defence production in the private sector.” To
start with, this one definitive push is in the right direction. A private
sector player is interested primarily in the bottom lines. This statement
should not be quoted out of context. This is because even the PSUs are required
to adhere to budgets and timelines, and finally, generate profits. The approach
to this is different for both of these. Private industry will not compromise on the quality of intake, or have to go through detailed procedures and governmental
approvals to achieve the desired results. To quote some examples from the
non-aviation commercial space, an excellent example is what happened to Maruti,
after collaboration with Suzuki, and what was the status of Maruti Motors
before that. Prior to this, India was ‘atmanirbhar’ for cars like the
Ambassador Mark 4, the Premier Padmini and the Standard Herald. The fact that
these were copies is a different matter. The common man had to be happy with
the paddle shift gears in cars. The electricals were so bad that batteries had
to be disconnected when going out of station. Cars needed petrol to be poured
over the carburettor on a winter morning to start. I myself have driven a
Premier Padmini and the change from this to a Wagon R was like moving on to a
completely different level. Remember how all of us had to tilt our Bajaj Chetak
scooters before starting? Do we do this with any of our modern bikes, whether
an indigenous bike like the Pulsar or a foreign one like a Honda Activa?
Why I bring these examples to an aviation discussion is
that the basic principles are the same – India had a practically non-existent
industrial capability and never seen or used modern manufacturing techniques,
better standards of equipment and the highest safety standards. Do any one of
you think for a moment, that if the Government of that time had not brought in
Suzuki, we would have been driving anything other than the Ambassador or
Padmini? There is a dynamic difference in the machining, finishing, quality of
workmanship and performance of the modern generation cars. Perhaps India would
have had a much larger share of global manufacturing of cars, had the
Government gone all the way, and allowed more numbers of car manufacturers to
set up base here. However, if other manufacturers had been allowed a free run
like Maruti was, then Maruti may not have had the lion’s share of the market
today. A similar mindset we’re seeing now about the HAL’s entry into the NUH
market, existed in 1982 when Suzuki was brought in. In the case of the NUH
debate, seems to be a feeling that if another manufacturer comes into India and
proves its mettle, then the unchallenged position of HAL will be in danger. If
we do not grab this opportunity of tying up with a foreign manufacturer, to set
up shop in India, with a Private entity, then we will definitely miss the
bus to build a strong
Military-Industrial-Complex.
I’m a commercial helicopter pilot now and wish to
touch upon the issue of speed. Why is speed so crucial you may ask? Well, to
cover a distance of 100 NM (Nautical Miles) a helicopter flying at 150 kts will
take 40 minutes, and the ALH zipping along at 110 kts will take about 15
minutes extra. So what’s the big deal? Imagine YOU are the person drowning in
the water, fighting to stay afloat, and having to wait for 15 minutes more. Or,
you need to reach the point where the enemy submarine is so that you can
speedily drop the torpedo before the submarine disappears. Additionally, since
the fuel consumption figures of the S76 and ALH are comparable, the same amount
of fuel will just take us that of a much lesser distance in an ALH.
The fact that the Naval version of the ALH is about 400
kg heavier than the IAF/Army version is another point to be kept in mind. This
difference is as good as 5 passengers and is a crucial point. Weight increase
has also been caused by the imported Vibration damping equipment strapped on at
a later stage, which should not have been needed to start with, but that is a
different line of discussion altogether.
If HAL was truly serious about providing a naval
helicopter, the moment the design bureau realised that 3.5m width wasn’t possible,
a possible decision could have been taken at the time that the basic airframe
could be the same, but the rotor head and blades for the Navy would be
optimised for sea level operations and shipborne use. The current ALH is more
optimised for high altitude use and to survive battle damage, and hence separating
the two designs could have yielded the required results. The Sea King is excellent
for sea level use, but cannot cross the Banihal pass. Similarly, the ALH
performs admirably at high altitudes, but the same performance could be a drag
at sea level (pun intended). This option is just one of the possible scenarios
I’m suggesting, in hindsight of course. If this was not considered possible,
HAL should have at the onset accepted that they will not design a
helicopter for the more exacting Naval requirements. HAL claiming (as per
information on a different website) that the cost of an imported helicopter
would cost 10-15 crores more without actually knowing the figures is incorrect.
We don’t even know the exact cost of an ALH.
Coming back to the ALH, the moot question is – how much
of the ALH is actually Indian? The engines are ‘manufactured’ at the HAL Engine
Division, a euphemism for assembled. The Avionics are Israeli. Crew seats are
imported, as are passenger seats for VIPs. The material used to make the
airframe and blade comes from various sources abroad. There is enough
literature about the weapons that are going to be imported. Flotation gear is
imported. The Rotor brake was made in India with quality control by HAL. These brakes
used to suddenly get jammed while flying, and so HAL said to us, fly without
the brakes. Sadly with this aircraft, the Sum is less than the Total of the
parts.
Coming to the oft-repeated term of indigenisation. When
we speak of an Indigenous product, what exactly is indigenous? Something
produced by a PSU (with parts from all over the globe) or something that is
produced in India, even if it is by a foreign manufacturer with imported and
locally produced parts. By different yardsticks, a Hyundai car made in India
will be indigenous or will be imported. It is the same for home-use items like
Surf Excel or Colgate. Should we stop using any of these products? There are
enough clarifications in the news from the Government that an item manufactured
by a multi-national company in India will still be considered Indian /
indigenous. So we have to understand that if a foreign vendor with years of
experience comes into India to set up shop to manufacture a helicopter, he is
bound to bring with him the expertise, the precision manufacturing practices,
industrial safety and everything that has made that company successful. You are
automatically creating a value chain, a supply chain that will increase the
standards of manufacturing and design in India. This will also spawn its own
network of MSMEs and design experts. This will further spur indigenous R &
D and design as well as spinoff manufacturing. This is just like the previously
described automobile revolution.
Today there are Indian companies producing world-class
components for foreign manufacturers. I was told at the Sikorsky factory that
the entire cabin structure of the S92 is manufactured in India and sent across.
This is the norm everywhere. An American helicopter can have French engines or
Canadian engines, European manufacturers will use engines from Pratt and
Whitney, components from all over the globe, so in that sense, any helicopter
is a fusion of material from around the globe. What then is different if HAL
does the same thing? Sadly with the ALH, the sum is less than the total of the
parts.
If we allow a foreign vendor to bring in a helicopter
that is suited for the Naval requirements, then ultimately, the Nation will
benefit. If we were to insist on HAL’s (unsuitable) helicopter being inducted
into the Navy to replace the Chetak, then we are doing a great disservice to
the Service and to the Nation. I do not understand why there are so many
demands that only a PSU should make helicopters and that the design effort of
HAL should not be allowed to go waste. If as I’ve said earlier, the product is
really so good, there will automatically be a queue to purchase the helicopter.
HAL has its order books full not with willing customers, but with those that
had no choice. The Navy today has a choice and there seems to be a determined
move to scuttle this choice. If the ALH were to be imposed onto the navy as the
NUH, HAL may have won the NUH battle, but India will surely lose the war. We
in addition would have lost an opportunity to break free of the clutches of the
Soviet-era mentality that believed anything made or done by the government is
good, and anything done by private enterprise is evil. We would have forever
killed any opportunity of nurturing real talent, as well as allowing knowledge
and skills to grow and flourish, all for short term gains of a PSU that really,
has nothing to gain or lose from the contract, other than a sense of prestige
and balancing of the account books.
When we look back many years later, we will then know
precisely on whose door to pin our failure as a nation to seize the moment.
