Coast guard grounds ALH fleet for safety checks
The multi-mission ALH has been involved in around 15 accidents during the last five years, putting the spotlight on its troubling safety record
The Indian Coast Guard has temporarily grounded its fleet of locally made Dhruv advanced light helicopters (ALH) for a safety inspection after one crashed at Porbandar in Gujarat on Sunday, killing two pilots and a diver who were on a routine training sortie, officials aware of the matter said on Monday.

This is the second time in four months that the coast guard has suspended ALH operations following a crash. The fleet was grounded in September 2024, too, after a helicopter crashed into the Arabian Sea near Porbandar. Then, too, two pilots and an aircrew diver were killed.
These accidents are a matter of concern, given that a critical safety upgrade on the military’s ALH fleet, initiated by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) after a string of accidents in 2023, was completed before the incidents took place. This involved installing upgraded control systems on the helicopters to improve their airworthiness.
The coast guard operates 19 ALHs, designed and developed by HAL.
The scope of the inspection will be extensive and cover crucial safety aspects, the officials said. The previous one-time safety inspection focussed on flying controls and the transmission system.
Accidents can happen due to several reasons, including technical defects and human errors during flying or servicing. The multi-mission ALH has been involved in around 15 accidents during the last five years, putting the spotlight on its troubling safety record.
When the coast guard grounded its fleet last September, the focus was on the safety, security, integrity and crack detection checks of several parts, including main drive flexible shaft and its attachments, main and tail rotor assemblies, upper and lower control systems, and roll, pitch, collective and tail rotor actuators.
The military’s Dhruv fleet, plagued by a nagging design issue, was grounded several times in 2023, too, after a raft of accidents called into question its flight safety record.
This led to a comprehensive design review, first reported by HT, of the helicopter’s booster control rods followed by a drive to replace the flaw-ridden existing ones with new rods in each ALH. The armed forces operate around 330 twin-engine ALHs.
These rods allow pilots to control the helicopter’s motion, and any failure can severely affect power input to the rotor blades and cause accidents.
Replacement of the collective control rod and the other two rods (lateral and longitudinal) has been completed on all military ALHs. The new rods are made of steel instead of aluminium.
A top government regulatory body responsible for the certification of the airworthiness of military aircraft ordered the design review in April 2023. The Bengaluru-based Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) ordered the design review of the booster control rods to improve the ALH’s airworthiness.
