Pak Snipes Indian Dhruvs In Ecuador

The Pakistan government, through its press service (Associated Press of Pakistan), has made a stinging attack on HAL’s flagship export, the Dhruv helicopter, suggesting that the small fleet that India sold to Ecuador a few years ago are now “beset with problems”, including low availability, expensive spares, faulty after-sales service and over-invoicing by HAL. HAL hasn’t responded officially just yet, but will shortly. See what you make of the Pak release. (A HAL source I spoke to said the tenor of the report “almost definitely” suggested a U.S. plant, with the APP a willing vessel). Anyway, here it is in full:

ISLAMABAD, July 27 (APP) Ecuadorian Air Force (EAF) which inducted seven Indian manufactured Dhruv helicopters, at a package cost of $50 millions, is finding itself beset with problems even as the last consignment of two helicopters has barely arrived in the country. According to the aviation sources, one of the inducted Dhruv helicopters crashed last year while two others have been grounded on account of malfunctioning of over-speed management unit (OMU).

While the Ecuadorian Air Force is plagued by Dhruv related maintenance issues, its difficulties have been compounded by exorbitant repair cost demanded by Indian manufacturers. The original US company that manufactures the OMU, charges $100m000 as the repair cost while the Indians have demanded $250,000 for the same job.

India has also raised the price of two additional Dhruvs that the EAF had originally planned as additional follow through acquisitions; demanding $12 million apiece. The EAF has informed the Indian government that because of cost issues, maintenance problems, under par flight performance and poor post sale spare support it is considering cancelling further orders for induction of Dhruv helicopters.

According to observers the disappointing Ecuadorian experience with the Dhruv Helicopters doesn’t augur well for the Indian efforts to find a toe hold in South American countries for its aviation products.

It is bound to have its negative fallout as other South American governments; Columbia, Brazil and Chile, who were contemplating induction of Dhruv helicopters in their respective air forces, are now certain to revisit such plans.

Dhruv is not only accident prone, overly priced and having maintenance support issues, it also comes with the Indian tendency of creating dependence and over invoicing, which make even costlier options from other countries more palatable, say observers.

45 thoughts on “Pak Snipes Indian Dhruvs In Ecuador”

  1. Looks like Pakistan doesn't want to leave this golden opportunity of undermining Dhruv and bringing us down…. How come Dhruvs are doing fine in India but not in Ecuador?

  2. What else do we expect Terrorist Dictatorship of Wala Wala land! May be Mr. Singh will feel pains if you complain of his "birth-land"

  3. And to help out the Ecuadorian AF and other Latin countries Pakistan is contemplating production of Porki-copter which was based on 1971 design of Pakistani defense scientists, but over-performing the customer requirement. PAF has claimed that those choppers are better than Apache-64D in terms of EW and firepower, capable of carrying nuclear tipped cruise missile also can provide 360 degree AWACS coverage. Porki-copter MK II will consists of anti-radar detection features which will make it invisible to all kind of MMR and LMR ever produced by mankind.

    ~ Sniper

  4. Of-course, we don't expect them to appreciate on "Made in INDIA". typical pakistani behavior. like government like Press !!!

  5. The problem is not with HAL, since HAL will always charge only the administrative and mobilisation prices for any MRO activity. The mark-up is always done by the in-country agent–in this case HAL's agent in Ecuador, who is most definitely acting in collusion with the engineering branch of the Ecuadorian Air Force to derive price quotes that are mutually acceptable to both the agent and the EAF. Consequently, it follows that the news item is a motivated piece of news purpotedly drafted at the behest of other Ecuadorian agents whose principals could well be rival helicopter manufacturers from China (CATIC), Europe (Eurocopter or AgustaWestland)or the US (Bell Helicopters or Sikorsky. If the EAF is indeed cost-conscious about its MRO expenditure, it can always get the MRO work done directly with Chandler Evans or BF Goodrich Aerospace.

  6. pilots came for hatsoff training now and previously Ecuador announced the accident is due to excessive maneuver

  7. dev chatterjee

    pakistanis have no other job………………..if Ecuador does not buy more it no problem either, our country just like USA is acquiring hardware at such huge rates that it can keep the production line going on for years.

  8. It may be true to some extent .But Pakistan is trying to exploit the situation by stressing on the accident that occured in Equador.Every new Aircraft has to go through its ups and downs before being certified as a full proof battle proven machine.Also the training level of the Pilots and there experience affects the performance of the aircraft.India is arriving there with some initial hiccups.Pakis cant bear to witness this as usual and are pointing fingers.

  9. Thus pakis indirectly appreciated dhurv bcoz they always criticize the good products of india ,
    Thus they say dhurv is a notable chopper which has set footed in the S.American market,
    So beware of that(Dhurv)!!!!!

  10. Because of the source of this article, this 'news' has no weight; I don't think anyone would expect our 'honest' neighbor to advertise our products or tell truth.

    I frankly think that we are giving this 'news article' weight by responding to it and reprinting it here.

  11. Shame on you, Shiv, for raising a sensitive issue right after the Pakistani foreign minister concluded a successful confidence building visit to India. An understanding of Pakistani sensitivities is of paramount importance at this moment, and we do not want the delicate peace between the two nuclear-armed neighbours disturbed because of such silly things, do we?

  12. Any one can start a newspaper and write shit in it …pak have lot of stupid news papers and channels who always look to take a dig on Indians and Indian products.

  13. Hindu-Pak pot calling kettle black!

    To some extent the report maybe true but how will Pakistan exploit this? what can they offer in return?

    This is a joke.

  14. 1. It could be true. It could be that BELL may be upto dirty work here.
    2. HAL doesn't know anything about the big bad world of International Arms Market . Its more comfortable donating DO228s and Chetaks to Namibia and Maldives. Hence the backlash is not entirely unexpected
    3. By all available reports Pakistan is girding itself up for the said International Arms Market with its "low cost" "affordable" JF17. So this ploy is not entirely surprising
    4. Everything in Pakistan is India centric and they cant look beyond that.
    5. Last but not the least – how "Indian" is the Dhruv? Engine – avionics – I leave the rest to everyone.

  15. A big, huge slap on the pakistani green painters of the chinese and north korean weapons. lol

    APP , the so called news agency is the mouth piece of ISI and PA alwas coming with anti-India BS and propaganda like fake wikileaks those busted by the Guardian.uk.

  16. Let them cry all they want. Dhruv is being used in 10 countries. If there is an problem then either India or Ecuador would point it out.

  17. How true is the "low availability, expensive spares, faulty after-sales service" ?

    if it is, then HAL deserve it. If not, HAL need not worry much if it can get the Ecuadorians to counter the allegations. That would be the best solution to such crap by pakis.

  18. @sniper (12:42 AM) dont forget, the pakicopters can travel underwater like subs and are capable of hypersonic flight, just like the al khalid.

  19. how far pakis are concerened with dhruv if EAf says something about the dhruv it is understandable they are costumer of our product

  20. Just like Arjun is an Indianized Leopard 2A4, similarly Dhruv is a derivative of German MBB developed in the late 1960s from which is the base for latest European, Japanese and US choppers.
    German tech at Indian prices is always a winning combination and hard to defeat. MBB has years of proven capability. The Pakis know this.

  21. The worst form of insult is when people completely ignore you or do not acknowledge your presence. On the contrary, when people envy you it is actually an indirect form of acknowledging your superiority.

  22. 3:25 PM paki, if arjun is Leopard2A4 than ready to see it is slaughtering chinese rejected mbt-2000 which you named al khalid. even the name is imported. lol

  23. @3:42 PM "The worst form of insult is when people completely ignore you or do not acknowledge your presence. On the contrary, when people envy you it is actually an indirect form of acknowledging your superiority."

    Best comment ever. Let them obsess 24/7 about India. When they wake, eat or sleep they are thinking about India. We live in their heads for free 😉

  24. This is totally malicious.pakistan has no business to write such articles when they are not competing with similar products. after helicopters are not onions which pakistan produces in abundance.Ecuador being such a rain forest region where helicopters are used heavily for transportation by the military and dhruv is being used extensively for such purpose.This is a case of paki malicious intentions to defame India.

  25. pakistanis lie 24/7. so what else is new. they cant even make a screw by themselves without someone holding their hand, let alone a helicopter. their attitude reminds me of the town drunk who falls into the gutter and decides to thrown dirt on everyone else to feel better. unfortunately more he throws it up, more falls back on him, and he becomes even filthier. this is the state of pakistan today. india looks to progress, pakistan looks to always be jealous of indian progress.
    foolish people. and they thought they could run a country.

  26. Dhruv is making Pakis life miserable in siachen ,they cannot do any thing about that,now this is best way they can get back against Dhruv.

  27. Dhruv is screwdriver technology at its best (or worst) …it is bound to fail big time !

    ….. its a shame that India cannot build a helo from scratch and all its components 'designed & made in India' !

  28. HAL must totally eleminate all agents in spare parts business in Ecuador. It is possible that the appointed agent is now on the pay rolls of some Pakistani group like ISI to destroy the goodwill generated by Dhruv for Indian manufactured defence products.
    Dialogue with the customer must be established and all spare parts must be supplied immediately.
    India must export more number of Dhruvs to various counries for elemination of apprehensions about its performance. Whenever PM or Presdent of India visits any country they must sign agreement for supply of Indian made defence products. Bilateral grants provided to various countries must be utilised for export of Defence Products manufactured in India.

  29. 8:24 PM every pakis want to be Indian. lol

    Thw world have seen true colour of the pakis. They are so obsessed with terrorism and religion. Now they want to bring down India through their govt mouthpieces like APP. They think rest of the world will take these jokes like other pakis.

  30. Pakis Ar** is burning since they were not able to make something of their own to their country……Poor Pakistani

  31. Shiv, What if this is true? I hope you throw some more light on this issue. Neither Indian or Pakistani sources can be reliable bcause both are biased, can we get the news right from the horses mouth, let Eucdor airforce say what it thinks. Not us or Pak.

  32. dhruv is one of the best in its class
    it have provide great deal in less price.some of its advantages are best clim rate in its section.pay load carring capacity is beter than any other hellicopter,it has fully ellectronic cockpit.
    HAL DHRUV is best….

  33. Rohan

    The accident happens due to pilot fault and even Ecuador forces know that and as far as follow on order is considered it's going on well and even Ecuador has termed these reports of overpricing as just rumors………..
    Lets these pakis do what they are best at ?

    Let em bark lmao

  34. Venkateswara Rao. Korasiga

    Bad business deal by the middle men. This should not be allowed. We should do business in a fair professional manner otherwise we will loose our market

  35. Venkateswara Rao. Korasiga

    We should not encourage such middle men. We should do business with professionalism and honesty other wise we will loos the entire market for ever.

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