At the Dubai Airshow 2025, HAL and Germany’s HENSOLDT announced a joint programme to co-develop an advanced LiDAR-based Obstacle Avoidance System for India’s military helicopters, including LCH Prachand and ALH Dhruv, boosting export potential.
New Delhi: A new Indo–German helicopter safety system announced at the Dubai Airshow 2025 is set to equip India’s indigenous helicopters like light combat helicopter (LCH) Prachand and ALH Dhruv.
The contract for co-development of an advanced Obstacle Avoidance System (OAS) for rollout on India’s military choppers comes at a time when Indian-built rotorcraft are drawing growing interest from overseas operators.
The agreement between state-owned Indian and German companies is set to strengthen both the frontline roles the rotary-winged aircraft play, and their positioning under the Make in India and Make for the World frameworks.
India’s operational requirement for advanced OAS
Indian helicopters routinely operate in some of the most demanding conditions anywhere.
In Ladakh and Siachen, low-density air and snow cover erase depth cues.
In the Northeast, dense canopy and sudden cloud formation limit visibility.
Over deserts and coastal areas, dust, haze and salt-laden air can quickly degrade the pilot’s spatial orientation.
Traditional aids such as night-vision goggles and FLIR systems help to an extent but are limited in detecting thin wires, narrow poles or subtle terrain changes during low-level flight.
These long-standing challenges have underlined the need for terrain-specific safety systems that offer reliable, early obstacle warning.
The new OAS solution, jointly pursued by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and German sensor-technology company HENSOLDT, relies on active LiDAR sensing to detect obstacles that are often invisible to the naked eye.
The proposed configuration for India uses its SferiSense LiDAR Sensor Head Unit, which employs a patented fibre-scanner to create a homogeneous scan pattern.
Official technical data indicate a detection probability of at least 99.5 per cent within the first second and a detection range of more than 1,000 metres.
LiDAR can detect thin wires even when the helicopter is flying parallel to them, addressing a known limitation of radar-based systems.
Onboard processors analyse the LiDAR returns through defined analysis windows, separating genuine obstacles from background clutter and mapping them into a stabilised coordinate frame independent of the aircraft’s attitude. This means warnings remain accurate even in classic Degraded Visual Environments (DVE) like brownout, whiteout, fog or low illumination.
The LiDAR unit is complemented by a DVE Computer that provides synthetic vision and 3D conformal symbology on Helmet-Mounted Displays and cockpit screens.
By presenting terrain and obstacle cues overlaid in the pilot’s line of sight, the system is designed to reduce crew workload during take-off, low-level ingress, approach and landing.
Built-to-spec Co-development model
HAL and HENSOLDT are pursuing the programme under a built-to-spec co-development model, rather than as a simple off-the-shelf import.
Technical parameters are to be refined jointly during development so that the system reflects Indian mission profiles across mountains, deserts, jungles and maritime terrain.
According to the agreement, technology transfer, including design and manufacturing IPRs, is planned to support domestic production.
HAL will manufacture, integrate, supply and sustain the OAS in India, and will have the rights to export the solution as part of its helicopter offerings.
The industrial and export implications are significant.
Countries such as Argentina, Mauritius, Nepal and the Philippines have examined ALH variants for multi-role and coastal missions, while Nigeria has shown interest in the LCH.
An OAS-equipped helicopter produced in India offers a more complete avionics and safety package and could make the platform more attractive in competitive tenders abroad.