Altitude was the reason the Light Combat Helicopter existed, so it was in the mountains that it had to prove itself. During trials based at Leh in 2015 it became, in HAL’s words, the first attack helicopter to land at Siachen, operating repeatedly from helipads between about 13,600 ft and 15,800 ft. The aim was to show that it could reach the posts and passes of the Himalaya with useful fuel and weapons still aboard, something older Russian-built gunships in Indian service could not do.

The real-world test came in 2020. During the confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh, the Air Force sent two LCHs, still technically development aircraft, to the Leh sector. They landed and took off from 15,000 ft helipads with combat loads, and India’s Vice Chief of Air Staff flew simulated attack missions in one of them. Business Standard reported that the helicopter had shown it could operate at 20,000 ft, an altitude claim no other attack helicopter in service makes. ThePrint later reported that the Prachand can carry about 500 kg of weapons at high altitude, enough for its gun, rockets and air-to-air missiles.

The first technology demonstrator, TD-1, flew for 20 minutes at Bengaluru on 29 March 2010. TD-2 followed on 28 June 2011, TD-3 on 12 November 2014 and TD-4 on 1 December 2015, each refining weight, systems and weapons. Hot-weather trials in the desert and cold-weather trials in the mountains followed, along with firing trials of the gun, rockets and Mistral missiles.

HAL announced initial operational clearance in August 2017, when it said the helicopter met the services’ requirements. In November 2016 the Ministry of Defence had cleared a limited-series order, and in March 2020 the Cabinet Committee on Security approved 15 for Rs 3,887 crore, ten for the Air Force and five for the Army. The type was finally inducted in 2022, about 23 years after the requirement was first identified. The 2025 contract for 156 more makes the Prachand one of India’s largest helicopter programmes, with deliveries spread over five years.

• TD-1 to TD-4: four technology demonstrators, first flown between 2010 and 2015.
• Limited series production: 15 aircraft, ten for the Indian Air Force’s No. 143 Helicopter Unit and five for the Army’s 351 Army Aviation Squadron, approved in 2020 and inducted from 2022.
• Series production: 156 aircraft ordered on 28 March 2025, 66 for the Air Force and 90 for the Army, with planned indigenous content above 65 percent.

The Prachand is closely related to the Dhruv and its armed Rudra version: all three use HAL’s Shakti engine and Dhruv-derived rotor and transmission components, which simplifies training and support in the Indian services. Deliveries of the 156 series aircraft are planned to begin in the third year after the 2025 contracts and to run over the following five years.

Neither HAL nor the Indian services publish a cost per flight hour, so the figure in the table is an estimate. The Prachand’s greatest economic advantage is that its engines and many dynamic components are shared with hundreds of Dhruvs and Rudras already in Indian service, so spares, engine overhaul and technician training are already in place at home.

Acquisition is a different matter. The 2025 contracts worked out at roughly Rs 400 crore per helicopter, a figure that includes more than the airframe alone. Press estimates in 2017 put the price at US$18–20 million each, about 70 percent of the cost of a late-model Apache. The government also stressed the industrial return: more than 250 Indian companies, mostly small and medium firms, and more than 8,500 direct and indirect jobs.