Reviving the Reliability of HAL's ALH Dhruv
Around 300 ALHs { Advanced Light Helicopter } of various varieties, including the Mk1, Mk2, Mk3, and Mk4, also known as the Rudra Weapon System Integrated, are flying with the three forces and the Coast Guard. The Army operates around 145 indigenous ALH, 75 of which are Rudra, with another 25 ALH Mk-III on order and due to be inducted over the next two years. The Air Force has around 70 ALH in service, the Navy has 18, and the Coast Guard has 20 ALH.
The ALH is a critical fulcrum for the services, including the Army, Navy, and Air Force. It is a utility helicopter that was designed in 1983 and is utilised across the services for a variety of duties, including personnel and material transport.
Following three separate accidents of ALH Dhruv in quick succession , Bengaluru-based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has decided to replace a key component of the Dhruv Advanced Lightweight Helicopter in order to improve the fatigue tolerance of the made-in-India chopper, which serves as the rotary-wing mainstay for the Indian armed forces.
According to sources, the state-owned aviation will replace an aluminum-made control rod in the gearbox with a much tougher and corrosion-resistant material. This improves both the copter's fatigue tolerance and the pilots' control of the aircraft.
Insiders said the state-owned aviation will replace an aluminum-made control rod in the gearbox with a much tougher material and corrosion resistance . This increases the copter's fatigue tolerance as well as they pilots' control of the aircraft.
HAL officials said that the ALH had an excellent safety record, having flown more than 3,75,000 hours in the last two decades, and that metallurgical improvements to the gearbox's control rod is being carried out to improve the aircraft's performance.
The mean time for helicopter checks, which was originally 600 hours, has been reduced to 300 hours, and it has been learned that it has been further reduced to between 100 and 150 hours of flying.
Function of Control Rod in Helicopter Gear Box : Explained
The control rod in a helicopter gearbox is a mechanical linkage that transmits the pilot's control inputs to the main rotor and tail rotor systems. The control rod is typically made of a strong, lightweight material such as aluminum or titanium. It is connected to the pilot's controls in the cockpit and to the main rotor and tail rotor gearboxes. When the pilot moves the controls, the control rod moves, which in turn causes the main rotor and tail rotor to change pitch. This change in pitch causes the helicopter to move in the desired direction.
The control rod is a critical component of the helicopter's flight control system. It must be strong enough to withstand the forces generated by the main rotor and tail rotor, and it must be able to transmit the pilot's control inputs accurately. A malfunction of the control rod can result in a loss of control of the helicopter, which can be a fatal accident.
Here are the specific functions of the control rod in a helicopter gearbox:
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Transmits the pilot's control inputs to the main rotor and tail rotor systems.
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Allows the pilot to control the pitch of the main rotor and tail rotor.
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Enables the pilot to move the helicopter in the desired direction.
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Is a critical component of the helicopter's flight control system.
Here are some of the common problems that can occur with the control rod in a helicopter gearbox:
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Bending or breaking of the control rod.
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Corrosion or wear of the control rod.
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Binding or jamming of the control rod.
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Looseness or misalignment of the control rod.
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Damage to the control rod's bearings or bushings.
These problems can lead to a loss of control of the helicopter, which can be a fatal accident. It is important to have the helicopter's control rod inspected and repaired regularly by a qualified technician to prevent these problems from occurring.
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Rahul Gandhi demands 'clean, pure' voter list; says 'vote theft' issue will explode soon
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New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the Opposition is protesting for the right to vote for every Indian and demanded a "clean and pure" voter list, asserting that the issue of alleged irregularities pointed out by him will "explode" soon as it is not related to a single constituency but the whole country.
Indicating that he would not submit a signed affidavit as sought by the Election Commission, Gandhi asserted that the data analysed by the Congress to provide "proof" of "vote theft" is taken from the EC website.
"This is their data. It is not my data that I should sign. It is their data only and has been taken from their website. This is only a move to distract," he told reporters.
The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, who participated in a protest march by the opposition on the "vote theft" issue, said the Election Commission is "silent" as the truth is before the entire nation after his charge that over one lakh votes in an assembly constituency in Karnataka were found to be fake in a research conducted by his party.
"Another thing I want to tell is that this has not just happened in Bangalore, but in different constituencies across the country, and the Election Commission knows this. The EC knows that this data will explode. What it is trying to control and hide, we will bring it out, and it will explode. The EC knows this," he told reporters.
Gandhi was briefly detained along with others as police stopped the protest march by opposition MPs from Parliament House to the EC office.
"They (EC) cannot talk as the truth is before the entire nation," the Congress leader said as he was being taken away in a bus by the police.
"This fight is not political, but for saving the Constitution," he asserted.
This fight is for 'one man, one vote' and we want a clean, pure voter list," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha added.
He said all the MPs of the INDIA alliance were stopped and taken into custody when they were going to meet the Election Commission.
"The truth of 'vote theft' is now before the country. This fight is not political; it is a fight to protect democracy, the Constitution, and the right to ‘one person, one vote’.
"The united opposition and every voter in the country demand a clean and transparent voter list. And, we will secure this right at all costs," Gandhi claimed in a post on X later.
Gandhi had on Thursday cited data from the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to claim that over 1 lakh votes were "stolen" through five types of manipulation in Mahadevapura assembly segment in Karnataka. He alleged there were 11,965 duplicate voters, 40,009 with fake and invalid addresses, 10,452 bulk voters or single-address voters, 4,132 voters with invalid photos and 33,692 voters misusing Form 6 of new voters.
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