Since 2002, 16 Dhruv helicopters, built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), have been involved in accidents, of which 12 occurred due to human error and environmental factors, government today said.
In a written response to a question in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh said 78 of the 85 Advanced Light Helicopter-Utility Dhruv helicopters, for which contract had been signed, have been delivered to the Indian Army.
The Dhruv helicopters were also being sold to the Ecuadorian government but the project has been now grounded.
"Since 2002, 14 military and 2 civil Dhruv helicopters have been involved in accidents, out of which 11 occurred in India and 5 abroad. Out of 16 accidents, 12 occurred due to human error and environment factors and the remaining 4 due to technical reasons," Singh said.
Regarding the reasons behind cancellation of contract between Ecuador and Defence PSU HAL, Singh said, "As per notice issued by the Ecuador government, non-compliance of the seller of some of the obligations contracted by virtue of the present contract and value of the fines exceeding the amount of guarantee of faithful compliance of the contract have been cited as the reasons.
