Three Cheetals for Afghanistan

摘要

Afghanistan has taken delivery of three HAL Cheetal multi-role helicopters from India. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha (Indian lower house of parliament) on April 24, Indian Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh revealed that the helicopters were dispatched to Afghanistan on April 9. They were then test flown and accepted by Afghan pilots six days later. The Cheetal is an upgraded version of the Cheetah light utility, multi-role helicopter, which is based on the French Alouette Ⅱ. Powered by a Turbomeca TM 333-2M2 turboshaft engine, it has a longer range and increased payload capacity than the Cheetah, while being capable of high-altitude operations.