印度将在本月底阿富汗总统访问印度时，终于向阿富汗移交拖延已久的3架印度国产Cheetal“猎豹”直升机 （许可制造的法国SA 315B型“印度豹”改装马力更大的TM 333 2M2发动机）

                               
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India to hand over three Cheetal copters to Kabul
Published April 21, 2015 | By admin
SOURCE: THE HINDU



Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hand over three indigenously-built Cheetal multi-role helicopters during the visit of Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani to India at the end of this month, diplomatic sources confirmed. This comes amid increasing perception that India’s strategic space in Afghanistan is under threat after formation of the new Unity government there and its major policy shift towards Pakistan and China.

Cheetals are the upgraded variants of Cheetah light utility, multi-role helicopters built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. They can be used for personnel transport, casualty evacuation, reconnaissance and aerial survey, logistic support and rescue and can operate in high-altitude areas, a critical requirement for Afghanistan’s mountainous regions. They have been customised as per the requirements of Afghanistan and will not be armed, the sources said.

Repeated requests

Afghanistan has in the past repeatedly requested India for military assistance and lethal hardware, including tanks, helicopters and artillery guns among others in addition to training of military personnel. But India had been reluctant to antagonise Pakistan which views India’s role in Afghanistan with suspicion.

Strategic patnership

Officials said that the choppers are being supplied under the strategic partnership agreement between the two counties signed in 2011.

They were promised to Afghanistan in 2014 when Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai visited India and met with then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon but the delivery got delayed for several reasons.

这玩意也好意思叫印度豹？叫苍蝇更贴切

mm6fan 发表于 2015-4-21 19:58
India to hand over three Cheetal copters to Kabul
Published April 21, 2015 | By admin
SOURCE: THE HINDU

                               
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Afghan air force receives Cheetal helicopters
By: ATUL CHANDRABANGALORE Source: Flightglobal.com 11 hours ago
The Afghan air force has formally received three Cheetal light helicopters which delivered earlier this month by Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), with an acceptance ceremony having been held in Kabul on 15 April.

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Hindustan Aeronautics

“These helicopters were handed over with associated spares and equipment. HAL has also trained four Afghan pilots on these helicopters in Bengaluru,” says company chairman and managing director T Suvarna Raju. The rotorcraft were tested and handed over by a HAL team comprising test pilots, flight engineers and a divisional technical team, he adds.

Capable of being operated at an altitude of up to 23,000ft, the Cheetal can carry a payload of 90kg (198lb) at 19,700ft. A range of 345nm (640km) and a flight endurance of 3.5h is also claimed. The utility type is powered by a 1,100shp (820kW) Turbomeca TM333-2M2 turboshaft engine.

India has so far ordered 20 Cheetals for its army and 10 for its air force, with deliveries under way from an order placed in February 2013.

Afghanistan also took delivery of its first batch of six armed MD Helicopters MD530Fs in mid-March. The company expects to hand over the remaining examples from a 12-unit deal by August 2015.