The HAL Dhruv (Pole Star) is India's first truly indigenous helicopter although it was designed in consultation with Germany's MBB and as such, shares a number of features common to other models such as the BK 117. The Dhruv is a FADAC-controlled twin-engined helicopter with a crashworthy airframe characterized by a four-blade main rotor and a fuselage built extensively out of composite materials. Both military and naval versions exist, the former armed with a turret gun, rockets, and anti-tank and air-to-air missiles while the latter is optimized for operation on India's INS Viraat carrier as well as smaller surface warships using sonar, torpedoes, depth charges, and anti-ship missiles. Despite a number of development difficulties, the Dhruv has now entered service with the Indian armed forces and is in the process of replacing the older local-built Chetaks and Cheetahs (based on the Aérospatiale Alouette II and III helicopters respectively).

First flight of the Dhruv, known as the ALH (Advanced Light Helicopter), took place on 30 August 1992 although service entry was protracted until a decade later to all of India's armed forces. Each service's versions have distinctive characteristics: the Army and Air Force versions have a skid landing gear, crashworthy fuel tanks, night attack capability and are optimized for attack and search and rescue (SAR) duties; Navy units have retractable tricycle landing gear, a harpoon deadlock, and flotation gear; Coast Guard units are generally similar to the naval versions but feature search radar and FLIR. A dedicated attack variant known as the LCH (Light Combat Helicopter) is based heavily on the Dhruv and is currently under development by HAL.