Taliban Managed to Restore Indian Cheetal Helicopters

The Afghan Taliban has restored Cheetal helicopters, which it demonstrated during a military parade.

The air show took place on the occasion of the 106th anniversary of Afghanistan’s independence, where Mi-17, Mi-35, UH-60, and MD-530F helicopters were also shown.

As part of its efforts to establish good neighborly relations with the new government in Kabul, India decided in 2014 to transfer three HAL Cheetal helicopters to Afghanistan.

These machines are upgraded versions of the widely used HAL Cheetah helicopter (a licensed version of the French Aerospatiale SA-315 Alouette II).

Unlike the basic Cheetah, which is equipped with an old 550 hp Artouse IIIB engine, the Cheetal version has a modern and economical 1,100 hp Turbomeca TM333-2M2 engine.

Reduced fuel consumption increases flight time to 4 hours and range to 640 km, while double the power allowed the helicopter to climb to an altitude of 7,500 meters above sea level.

Otherwise, the Cheetal remained the same SA-315 Alouette II with a rather archaic appearance from the 1960s.

On April 9, 2015, three unarmed helicopters arrived in Afghanistan aboard a commercial transport aircraft. By April 15, they had been flown by representatives of the manufacturer and handed over to the Afghan Air Force.

Cheetal helicopters were actually used, in particular, to support combat operations in the mountains.

Although Indian Cheetals can theoretically be equipped with machine gun pods, they arrived in Afghanistan unarmed and do not appear to have been equipped with them locally.

In August 2021, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan fell under the pressure of the Taliban, which took Kabul without a fight. After the rapid collapse of the government, the Taliban got hold of a significant amount of aviation equipment.

As they left Kabul, US military personnel disabled helicopters and aircraft with whatever means at their disposal, from crowbars to axes. It is likely that former Afghan aircraft technicians who defected to the Taliban restored the Cheetal helicopters.