NEW DELHI: Three Coast Guard personnel lost their lives on Sunday when their ‘Dhruv’ Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) crashed at Porbandar, Gujarat. The incident raises fresh concerns about the indigenous twin-engine helicopters, which have faced multiple accidents and temporary groundings in the past.
The ALH Mark-III was returning from a routine training sortie when it reportedly encountered a technical snag during landing at the Coast Guard Air Enclave in Porbandar. The crash occurred around 12:15 pm. The two pilots, Commandant Saurabh and Deputy Commandant S.K. Yadav, along with aircrew diver Manoj Pradhan Navik, were pulled from the burning wreckage and rushed to a government hospital. Unfortunately, all three succumbed to their injuries. “A board of inquiry has been ordered to determine the cause of the crash,” an official said.
This tragedy follows a similar incident in September 2024, when another Coast Guard ALH crashed into the Arabian Sea during a medical evacuation, claiming the lives of two pilots and an aircrew diver. In 2023, the entire fleet of approximately 330 ALHs in the armed forces was grounded multiple times after a series of four major crashes.
The helicopter’s manufacturer, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), implemented technical safety upgrades last year after investigations revealed issues such as design and metallurgical flaws, including the “failure of the collective,” a critical system that controls rotor power.
The troubles began in October 2022 when a weaponized ALH version, known as Rudra, crashed in Arunachal Pradesh, killing five personnel. This was followed by two consecutive ALH crashes in March 2023 and another in May that year in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district, which resulted in one fatality and serious injuries to two pilots.
These recurring incidents have sparked calls for a comprehensive review of the ALH fleet. The Dhruv helicopters are vital to India’s armed forces and play a key role in the country’s drive for self-reliance in defense production. Additionally, India aims to expand the export of these 5.5-tonne choppers in the future, further underscoring the urgency of addressing the fleet’s safety concerns.
