The Indian Army is one of the largest in the world and has a number of records to its name. Now there¡¯s another one ¨C rescuing a stuck helicopter from Siachen Glacier, the highest battlefield in the world. Helicopters are the lifeline for soldiers posted there with everything from medicines to food being airlifted to them.
An ALH Dhruv helicopter from the Army Aviation Corps was on one such air maintenance sortie when it developed a snag. The pilots, trained to deal with such emergencies, managed to land the chopper on the glacier near a post called Khanda, still some distance from the helipad. Unfortunately, it fell sideways under the weight of the overnight snowfall.
Though attempts were made to rescue it, it was only in July that they managed to get it back to the Siachen base camp. The men responsible for this Herculean effort were the technicians and pilots of the 203 Squadron based in Leh.
There aren¡¯t many Armies that fight at altitudes such, let alone operate rotor crafts at height of 18,000 feet. The ALH Dhruv that was rescued is made in India by HAL and is one of the very few helicopters suited for such high altitude missions.
Here are some more pictures of the helicopter recovery