This was the third incident involving the ALH Dhruv in the last two months.
Two days after a chopper hard landing in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar killed a technician and injured two pilots, the Indian Army has grounded its fleet of indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) 'Dhruv' as per procedure, sources said.
The choppers were recently grounded by the Navy and the Coast Guard for more than a month after two accidents in March, but the Army had cleared some in its fleet after checks due to operational requirements. It is not yet clear if the Navy and Coast Guard Dhruv choppers are back in operation.
The clearance to restart the operations of the chopper needs to be given by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the manufacturer of the chopper.
This was the third incident involving the ALH Dhruv in the last two months. Previously, an Indian Navy Dhruv made a forced landing in the Arabian Sea while a Coast Guard Dhruv made a forced landing moments after taking off from Kochi.
The Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter is a workhorse for the Indian Armed Forces. In use with the Army, it flies to extremely high altitudes to serve soldiers in the Siachen glacier and in Ladakh. In recent times, there have been concerns about mechanical defects and reliability in the forces.