Army, Air Force ALH Dhruv Helicopters Cleared To Fly Again Amid India-Pakistan Tensions

Centre has approved the resumption of operations of Army and Air Force versions of the Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv. The naval version of the chopper will remain grounded.

Image used for represenatation.

The central government on Thursday cleared the resumption of operations of Army and Air Force versions of the Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv, reports news agency PTI quoting officials. According to the report, the naval version of the chopper will remain grounded.

"In furtherance of the clarification dated 11th April 2025, it is now intimated that the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv Army and Air Force versions are cleared for operations based on the Defect Investigation (DI) Committee recommendations. A time-bound plan for the resumption of operations has been worked out with the users," HAL said as quoted by news agency ANI.

The Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard versions of the choppers will continue to be on the ground as the probe is still continuing.

The entire fleet of over 330 Dhruv helicopters operated by the Army, Navy, the Air Force and the Coast Guard was grounded in early January following a crash of one of the choppers. A Dhruv helicopter of the Coast Guard crashed at the Porbandar airport runway in Gujarat on January 5. In the incident, two pilots and an aircrew diver of the helicopter were killed.

A Board of Inquiry was launched after the chopper crashed, resulting in the deaths of three crew members, including two pilots and one aircrew member. According to officials, the incident occurred when the ICG ALH MK-III helicopter, on a routine training sortie, crashed while landing at Porbandar airport.

The choppers since then had been grounded, and they were given limited permission to fly after the attack in Pahalgam, where the terrorist killed 26 tourists.