India's Indigenous Tank Killer 'LCH Prachand' Lands At Advanced Landing Ground Near China Border In One Of Its First Such Missions

In a first-of-its-kind mission, the Indian Army's indigenous 'tank-killer' light combat helicopter (LCH) Prachand, landed at a high-altitude advanced landing ground (ALG) in the northeastern sector near the China border.

This comes just a day (30 October) after LCH Prachand fired its 70 mm rockets and 20 mm guns for the first time.

These same LCH Prachand helicopters, based at the Missamari military base in Assam, under the Exercise Poorvi Akash conducted by the Indian Air Force's (IAF) Eastern Air Command landed at a high-altitude ALG opposite the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

IAF Eastern Air Command posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) stating "As part of Ex Poorvi Akash of EAC IAF, the indigenous LCH Prachand today landed at a high elevation ALG on one of its first such deployments, carrying out joint training with ground forces, alongside a variety of other combat platforms and systems participating in the exercise."

This is significant since the LCH Prachand is specifically designed to operate in high-altitude conditions.

It is the only helicopter in the world with the capability to operate at altitudes above 5,000 to 6,000 metres while carrying a substantial offensive payload.

The LCH demonstrated this capability by executing successful landings at forward camps situated at Siachen, at an altitude of 4,700 metres above sea level, while carrying a 500 kg payload.

The IAF and the Indian Army previously ordered 15 limited series production LCH Prachand attack helicopters, worth Rs 3,837 crore. Ten LCHs were inducted by the IAF, and the remaining five were inducted by the army.

The army and the air force are looking to buy an additional 156 LCH Prachand helicopters, of which 90 are intended for the army, and the remaining 66 are for the air force.