IAF Rudra Helicopter

So while I was getting amazed with the Aircraft on display at the HAL Heritage Centre and Aerospace Museum, and the constant buzz of LCA Tejas Aircraft & MI-8 Helicopters taking off and landing at the HAL Airport across the road, I suddenly heard the load humming of rotors and instantly knew that there was a Helicopter close by.

Suddenly from behind a tree I saw this magnificent bird rise up and just float in mid air while the nose gun turret kept swiveling from side to side.

It was an HAL Rudra Helicopter with Indian Air Force markings.

HAL RUDRA

Specifications:

HAL/Turbomeca Shakti engine

General characteristics:

Crew: 1 or 2 pilots

Capacity: 12 passengers (14 passengers with high density seating) or 4 stretchers.

Length: 15.87 m (52 ft 0.8 in)

Rotor diameter: 13.20 m (43 ft 3.7 in)

Height: 4.98 m (16 ft 4.06 in)

Disc area: 137 m2 (1,472 ft2)

Empty weight: 2,502 kg (5,515 lb)

Useful load: 2,600 kg (5,731 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 5,500 kg (12,125 lb)

Powerplant: 2 × HAL/Turbomeca Shakti turboshafts, 1,000 kW (1,400 shp[17])

Alternate engine: 2 x Turbomeca TM 333-2B2 turboshaft, 746 kW (1,000 shp) each

Performance:

Maximum speed: 290 km/h (180 mph, 156.58 kn)

Combat radius: 320 km (200 mi, 175 nmi)

Ferry range: 827 km (516 mi, 447 nmi)

Service ceiling: 6,096 m[18] (20,000 ft)

Rate of climb: 10.3 m/s (2,030 ft/min)

Power/mass: 329.73 W/kg (0.20 hp/lb)

Armament:

Guns:

1 x 20mm M621 cannon into the Nexter THL-20 chin mounted gun turret (Air-Force & Army version)

Missiles:

8 Helina (Helicopter-launched Nag) Anti-tank guided missiles (planned for Air-Force & Army version)

4 MBDA Mistral short-range Air-to-air missiles (Air-Force & Army version)

4 x 68 mm or 70 mm Rocket Pods (Air-Force & Army version)

2 Torpedoes or Depth charges (Navy version)

2 Anti-ship missiles (Navy version)

Avionics:

Elbit CoMPASS optoelectronic suite for reconnaissance and target acquisition

SAAB IDAS-3 self-protection suite

Source: Wikipedia (Data from Indian Army, Crawford, HAL, and Defence Update.)

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