Aérospatiale SA315B Lama

The Aérospatiale SA315B Lama is a French single-engined helicopter developed to meet hot and high operational requirements of the Indian Armed Forces. It combines the lighter Aérospatiale Alouette II airframe with Alouette III components and powerplant. The Lama possesses exceptional high altitude performance; on June 21st 1972, the type established a helicopter absolute altitude record of 40,814 feet (12,440.1 meters), a record which remained unbroken as of September 2017.

The helicopters have been built under licence by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in India, known as the Cheetah; HAL later developed an upgraded variant, powered by the Turbomeca TM 333-2M2 engine, which is known as the Cheetal. An armed version, marketed as the Lancer, was also produced by HAL. It was also built under licence by Helibras in Brazil as the Gavião.

Variants

 * SA315B Lama: Derived from the SE 3150, it was designed for high altitude operations using a 650kW (870shp) Turbomeca Astazou IIIB turboshaft, derated to 410kW (550shp). This derivative still holds the absolute altitude record for all types of helicopters since 1972: 12,442 m.
 * HB315B Gavião: Brazilian license-built version of the SA315B Lama.
 * HAL Cheetah: Indian license-built version of the SA315B Lama.
 * HAL Lancer: Modified armed combat variant. Changes include composite armouring, toughened glass, and gun sights. Armaments include two jettisonable weapons pods, each of which contains a single 12.7 mm machine gun and up to three 70 mm rockets.
 * HAL Cheetal: Modernised variant, fitted with the Turbomeca TM333-2M2. Its speed has been increased to 130 mph (209.21 km/h) and range was increased to 350 miles (563.27 kilometers).

Users

 * Afghanistan
 * Afghan Air Force
 * Angola
 * Angolan Air Force
 * Argentina
 * Argentine Air Force
 * Argentine Army
 * Argentine National Gendarmerie
 * Bolivia
 * Bolivian Air Force
 * Chile
 * Chilean Army
 * Ecuador
 * Ecuadorian Air Force
 * Ecuadorian Army
 * El Salvador
 * Salvadoran Air Force
 * India
 * Indian Air Force
 * Indian Army
 * Morocco
 * Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie
 * Namibia
 * Namibian Air Force
 * Nepal
 * Nepalese Army Air Service
 * Pakistan
 * Pakistan Army
 * Peru
 * Peruvian Army
 * Togo
 * Togolese Air Force