What is missing in LCH Prachand ?

Light Combat Helicopter: Prachand

HAL’s LCH has been in news recently and it has got its much-awaited name Prachand. On 1st of June 2022, the Army raised its first LCH squadron at Bengaluru. On 3rd October, the Indian Air force has inducted its 1st squadron of Prachand at Jodhpur Air Force Station. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in March 2022 gave approval for the procurement of 15 Limited Series Production (LSP) LCH at a cost of Rs 3,887 crore. 10 helicopters would be for the IAF and five for the Indian Army.

Low Observable design

LCH Prachand is also known for its Low Observable design. The helicopter features a narrow fuselage and tandem seating for the pilot and co-pilot. The features which improve the stealth characteristics of the helicopter are digital camouflage system, an infrared (IR) suppressor fitted to the engine exhaust, and an exterior covered by canted flat panels to minimize its radar cross-section (RCS).

Latest avionics & sensors

The LCH comes up with a glass cockpit, Integrated Avionics and Display System (IADS) which uses an array of multifunction displays along with target acquisition and designation (TADS) system. The Helmet mounted sight (HMS) is a prominent feature of TADS which is used for targeting and triggering the rotorcraft's armaments.

920kg weapon payload

The LCH Prachand is going to be game changer for Indian Armed forces as it is the only assault helicopter in the world capable of taking off and landing at altitudes of five kilometres while carrying considerable armament and fuel loads. The helicopter can meet the requirements of troops serving in areas such as Siachen and Kargil.

LCH has total weapon payload capacity of 920 KG. It can be armed with variety of weapons including Air-to-Air missiles, 70mm rockets, 20mm turret gun, ATGMs, Pre-fragmentation bombs, high-speed & low drag bombs and fuel tanks.
Prachand has 4-hard points - two on the either side where the weapons can be loaded in almost all permutation and combinations. It can carry 16 ATGM – 4 on each hard point. It can also carry 8-ATGM on 2 hard points and 4-A2A missiles or two 70mm rocket pods with each pod having 12X70mm rockets on its remaining two hard points.

Prachand is also capable of carrying two 250KG bombs which could be either a Pre-fragmentation bombs or a high-speed & low drag bomb. It can also carry 4-A2A missiles on the other two pods along with bombs.

What is missing in Prachand?

While Prachand is being hailed as a great acquisition for armed forces and a symbol of self-reliance in defence, still the gunship requires a fair amount of work before it can operate to its full potential.

While the helicopter comes integrated with Mistral-2 AAM launcher, the order for the missiles is still awaited.

The helicopter’s main role is going to be a tank buster, but it is yet to be integrated with an ATGM. The Helina ATGM whose air force version is called Dhruvastra is planned to be integrated with LCH. The missile has range between 500 metres to seven km. The integration of the ATGM has been fast tracked and is expected by mid of 2023.

Another major component that needs to be integrated with LCH Prachand is the Electronic Warfare suite. The LCH is going to be protected via an extensive electronic warfare suite provided by the Saab Group called Integrated Defensive Aids Suite (IDAS); this suite comprises various defensive elements including a radar warning receiver (RWR), laser warning receiver (LWR) and a missile approach warning (MAWS) system.

In June 2022, it was reported that Saab was in final stage of transferring the IDAS technology to HAL and both firms are working together on in its future version IDAS-3. There is no official confirmation or reports on integration of IDAS with Prachand.

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Music: Eternal Garden - Dan Henig

[Bond]

We need a NATIONALIST Government in INDIA for a long time....🇮🇳

[abinashpanda]

The title should be everything about LCH.

[antonsokolov]

EW suit should have been developed in India

[Leo-K]

Having such a great avionic sensor but the payload is too less wish it can carry a bit more like apache or Alligator

[datoolz]

"LCH Prachand is going to be game changer for Indian Armed forces as it is the only assault helicopter in the world capable of taking off
and landing at altitudes of five kilometres while carrying considerable armament and fuel loads. The helicopter can meet the requirements
of troops serving in areas such as Siachen and Kargil. "

Question arises what Pakistan and Zhongguo have and how well does it perform at altitude?

Z-10ME
Upgraded variant first unveiled in 2018 with active and passive countermeasures, missile approach warning system, radar warning receiver,
new engine exhaust nozzle pointed upwards to reduce infrared signature, new intake filtration systems, more powerful WZ-9G 1200 kW engine,
larger ammunition magazine, appliqué graphene-based armor panels, infrared jammer, and a new IFF interrogator. top-mounted millimeter-wave
fire-control radar and active laser jammer station can be mounted as per customer request

Fortunately less powerful than the Prachand, but not a good direction, their engines are growing more powerful. The EW suite by Saab needs
to be integrated, and the FZ275 LGR - Laser Guided Rocket which is a weapon system by Thales should be replaced. An indigenous laser guided
rocket is simple enough to leave to the private sector.

A very good thing about the Prachand is all of its weapon systems have longer than 5km range. This is very important so that
it can stay out of manpad range. There is one small issue with the gun being effective only out to 2km. Is there a longer range
gun available for helicopters?

There needs to be an indigenous equivalent of Mistral as well. Only some of the weapons are indigenous, they all
should be!

[debnathson]

The Mistral missiles I think we are trying to bring the license production here, hence maybe not ordered yet. Alternatively our forces may already have a good amount?
Some said IAF/Army are yet to choose which atgm to integrate, which is very odd but completely possible. We know both forces lust for hellfire missiles, but Defministry want to give helina/dhruvastra a chance. There was also news of hellfire local production so we have to see. I have heard of a vibration issue that is delaying atgm integration, possible because LCH is made as highly agile & maneuverable.

[satheeshbabub]

I see too much of vibration inside in the cockpit video..is it normal and do we see such vibration in Apache too?

[vinayakdasaka]

Jamming IR spectrum ? Survivability in hravy MANPADS situations ? Disruption of laser guidance systems ? Flares and chaff to fox MANPADS and SRSAMs ? Lsunch loitering wespons platforms ?

[babuvishwass]

Why we can't develop Indigenous EW Suite For Attack Helicopters when we already developed Indigenous EW Suite for Fighter Jets????

[sauraviips]

Its LSP, so there is lot of scope of integration of Anti tank missiles and EW suite in near future. 🙏

[Leo-K]

So this helicopter can carry Gypsy king lol gypsy also weight 920 kg something but in my opinion the payload is too less

[dr.makrandmasrani]

Without electronic suit it's a sitting duck

[olracmike]

You need to modernize the looks that will appeal foreign buyers ex korea and turkey products they look clean and modern as well as westernize looks your helicopter looks like is use/made by people from the mountains

[robbysg]

Why can't France build a 5gen fighter jet?
Even China, which does not even have its own engine, made it🤔🤔

[lajjashankarpandey]

Mere sath
Aur kis kisko lag raha he ke vo first he

[coolkal]

His videos are readouts from brochure 😄

[haryanviboys]

हिंदी से नफ़रत है के या अंग्रेज बनेगा 😂😂😂

[haryanviboys]

Sorry bhai unsubscribe kar raha hu kyoki English nhi aati 😂😂