The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Dhruv prowess exhibited to envoys

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 18, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Dhruv prowess exhibited to envoys

By Our Staff Reporter

Ambassadors of Latin American countries who visited Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. and watched the demonstration of Dhruv helicopter, in Bangalore on Thursday. — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

BANGALORE, FEB. 17. Marketing further the indigenously designed and developed Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv, the State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. today demonstrated the flying prowess of the aircraft to eight visiting ambassadors of Latin American countries here.

The ambassadors watched as the Naval, Air Force and civil variants of the helicopter depicted their agility and manoeuvrability.

A flypast at 240 kmph, a pull-up and nose-down dive, a steep turn and a wig formation were the manoeuvres displayed. The dignitaries were scheduled to visit the assembly units of HAL's Jaguar project and other facilities before leaving for New Delhi on Friday.

The Managing Director of HAL's Bangalore complex, A.K. Saxena, later told presspersons that the demonstration was part of the company's moves to cap the vast potential in Latin America, Asia-Pacific and West Asia. While the ALH had already undergone trials in Chile, another South American country, Peru had shown keen interest in the helicopter, he informed.

Asked whether HAL had clinched an acquisition deal from Chile, Mr. Saxena said it was being evaluated. The helicopter was well suited for Chile as the terrain there was similar to India's, he said.

Visit

The Chilean Defence Minister was likely to visit India during the first or second week of April to hold further talks in this regard. Incidentally, it was the first time that a delegation of ambassadors visited HAL.

The ALH, Mr. Saxena said, would compete with other leading helicopter manufacturers such as Bell, Eurocopter and Russian helicopter companies in the international market. The ALH had already showcased its prowess at the Dubai and Singapore airshows, he said. Commenting on ALH's price advantage, he said the helicopter was about 10 to 15 per cent cheaper than other choppers in its class.

The cost varied from Rs. 32 crores to Rs. 40 crores. HAL would like to sell about six to ten helicopters if any country showed interest to buy the aircraft, he said. HAL had so far manufactured 32 ALHs, most of which were procured by the armed forces. Two were exported to Nepal and one leased out to Israel. Besides, Karnataka, Arunachal Pradesh and Rajasthan governments were keen to acquire the helicopter, he said and added that his company was prepared to scale up its production according to the demand. The ambassadors in the delegation were Ernesto Carlos Alvarez (Argentina), Jose Vicente Pimentel (Brazil), Jorge Heine (Chile), Pedro Pablo de Bedout Gori (Colombia), Juan Carretero Ibanez (Cuba), Benzamin Ruiz (Peru) and K. Bajnath (Suriname).

Imelda Smolcic from the Embassy of Uruguay and Barbara Haley, counsellor from the Guyanese Embassy, were part of the delegation.

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