New Delhi, July 01 The Indian Air Force has indigenously designed and developed an pesticide spraying tool for Mi-17 choppers — the Airborne Locust Control System (ALCS) — to save the country from locust attacks.
“The Chandigarh Base Repair Depot indigenously designed and developed the ALCS for Mi-17 helicopters,” said a top Air Force officer.
Anticipating repeated locust attacks in various states across the country, the Indian Agricultural Ministry had signed a contract with an UK based company in May 2000 to modify two Indian Air Force Mi-17 choppers for spraying atomised pesticide to arrest locust breeding.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK based firm was unable to manufacture and supply the modification kit to the IAF before September 2020 for system integration and testing.
Seeing the delay and an unprecedented locust attack across states, the IAF decided to develop the pesticide spraying kit.
The IAF tasked the Base Repair Depot located in Chandigarh to undertake the challenging task of indigenously designing and developing the ALCS for Mi-17 helicopters.
