Indian Army's Cheetah Helicopter Crashes Near China Border In Arunachal; Here's What We Know So Far

On Thursday (16 March), a Cheetah helicopter belonging to the Indian Army crashed in the Mandala hills area of Arunachal Pradesh. The incident occurred at approximately 9:15 am and the whereabouts of the pilots are currently unknown, prompting a search operation in the region.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Mahendra Rawat, the PRO Defence Guwahati, the Army Aviation helicopter was on an operational sortie near Bomdila when it lost contact with the ATC and is believed to have crashed near Mandala, west of Bomdila. The Indian Army has launched search parties to locate the missing pilots, the official added.

New report suggests that the two pilots flying the crashed helicopter have died.

Armed Forces Raise Alarm Over Aeging Fleet

The armed forces have been raising the alarm over the ageing fleet of the virtually obsolete Cheetah and Chetak helicopters.

The total technical life of these machines will begin to end by 2023 onwards, reports The Times of India.

Both Cheetah and Chetak are light utility single-engine helicopters, most of which are as much as 40 years old.

Thus, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been apprised that critical operational challenges are emerging due to the ageing fleets of these choppers, which must be addressed, the report adds.

The services presently operate a total of 187 Cheetah and 205 Chetak helicopters, which are often used to even service high-altitude areas like Siachen Glacier region. However, these have lately witnessed a patchy record with a high crash rate and huge serviceability issues.