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HAL delivered four ALH Dhruv Mk III Maritime Role helicopters to the Indian Coast Guard on April 10, 2026.
HAL handed over four ALH Dhruv Mk III Maritime Role helicopters to the Indian Coast Guard in Bengaluru on April 10, 2026, the first batch under its nine-helicopter 2024 contract. The Ministry of Defence had separately ordered six more Coast Guard Mk III Maritime Role helicopters for Rs 2,901 crore on March 3, 2026. Navy and Coast Guard Dhruvs returned to public flying at the February 18 International Fleet Review under a requirement for swashplate examination after every 100 flight hours, ending the maritime fleets' prolonged post-crash stand-down. The January 5, 2025 Porbandar crash killed three Coast Guard personnel and grounded ALHs across all four services; Army and Air Force variants were cleared on May 1, while Indian media later reported a Non-Rotating Swashplate Bearing manufacturing change for maritime aircraft. Dhruv matters because its utility, casualty-evacuation, reconnaissance, search-and-rescue and maritime configurations form a domestically built helicopter backbone from high-altitude land bases to ships at sea.
Updated 9 days ago Updated 26 Aug 2026
Verified figures
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Advanced multirole light helicopter ↗ |
| Crew | Two ↗ |
| Length (Indian Navy baseline) | 15.87 m ↗ |
| Main rotor diameter (Indian Navy baseline) | 13.20 m ↗ |
| Maximum certified all-up weight (Navy/Coast Guard Mk III) | 5,750 kg ↗ |
| Maximum speed (Indian Navy baseline) | 290 km/h ↗ |
| Service ceiling (Indian Navy baseline) | 5,990 m ↗ |
| Range (Indian Navy baseline) | 414 km with 1,500 kg payload; 810 km with maximum fuel and 20-minute reserve ↗ |
| Powerplant (Mk III) | Shakti (Safran Ardiden 1H1) engines ↗ |
| Cockpit (Mk III) | Full glass cockpit with Integrated Architecture Display System ↗ |
| Maritime mission suite | Surveillance radar, EO pod, AIS, searchlight, SAR homer, medical ICU, rescue basket and 12.7 mm cabin gun among 19 integrated systems ↗ |
| Rescue winch | 250 kg double-lift capacity on Navy/Coast Guard Mk III ↗ |
Spec sources: bharat-rakshak.com ↗ · verticalmag.com ↗ · pib.gov.in ↗
Changelog
HAL and Safran Helicopter Engines signed the final contract with their 50:50 SAFHAL joint venture to design, develop, manufacture and support the 3,500-4,000 shp Aravalli turboshaft for the 13-tonne IMRH and 12.5-tonne DBMRH, with production planned at Tumakuru and development running to 2032-33, extending to a heavier class the HAL-Safran partnership whose jointly developed Shakti engine family powers the Dhruv.
HAL handed over four ALH Dhruv Mk III Maritime Role helicopters to the Indian Coast Guard in Bengaluru under the nine-helicopter March 2024 contract.
The Ministry of Defence contracted HAL for six ALH Mk III Maritime Role helicopters for the Indian Coast Guard for Rs 2,901 crore, including role equipment and performance-based logistics.
Five Navy ALHs flew at the International Fleet Review off Visakhapatnam as Navy and Coast Guard fleets returned under a condition requiring swashplate examination every 100 flight hours.
The Indian Express reported that the Defect Investigation Committee recommended a manufacturing-process improvement to the Non-Rotating Swashplate Bearing for all 28 Navy and Coast Guard Dhruvs before return to service.
Army and Air Force Dhruv variants were cleared to resume operations after nearly four months grounded; Navy and Coast Guard variants remained suspended.
An Indian Coast Guard ALH Mk III from 835 Squadron crashed during a training flight at Porbandar, killing two pilots and an aircrew member and prompting a fleetwide grounding.
A Coast Guard Dhruv ditched in the Arabian Sea while approaching tanker Hari Leela for a night medical evacuation about 45 km from Porbandar; all three missing personnel were later confirmed dead.
The Ministry of Defence signed HAL contracts for 34 ALH Dhruv Mk IIIs - 25 for the Army and nine for the Coast Guard - in an Rs 8,073.17 crore package.
The Army temporarily grounded its Dhruv fleet after the May 4 hard landing near Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir killed a technician and injured two pilots.
A Navy Dhruv suffered sudden power and height loss and made a controlled ditching off Mumbai; all three crew were rescued, and Navy and Coast Guard fleets were subsequently grounded for checks.
HAL handed over three ALH Mk IIIs to the Navy and two to the Coast Guard at Aero India 2021 in Bengaluru under their respective 16-helicopter contracts.
1 tagged story
The SAFHAL contract turns a 2023 joint venture into a funded programme for a 3,500–4,000 shp turboshaft, India's first co-developed engine of this class, and clears the way for the ₹13,500 crore IMRH design case to reach the CCS.
