There is an insect called a cicada that burrows deep into the earth in its larval stage, slowly, quietly growing out of sight, feeding modestly on tree root sap and finally emerging 17 years later as a formidable form of aphid that, while benign, appears to be anything but. Often as long as two inches, with a chunky body and massive wings, the adult cicada is far more often heard than seen, the high-pitched warbling “skree-eee-skree” of their cries a standard part of any summer in the Midwestern U.S.
The helicopter world has its equivalent of the 17-year locust in Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.’s (HAL) Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), a 12,000-lb twin-turbine rotorcraft that actually has been in on-again, off-again development since 1984, making the ALH slightly older than the oldest cicada digging its way toward a first flight this summer. However long its sleep, the helicopter’s moribund time underground seems about to end and its entry into at least limited military and civil service about to begin.
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