In the Large Helical Device (LHD), upgrading of the key hardware systemsince the last EPS conference has led to (1) higher Te (Te(0) = 4.4 keV at ⟨ne⟩ = 5.3×1018 m-3 and Pabs = 1.8 MW); (2) higher confinement (τE = 0.3 s, Te(0) = 1.1 keV at ⟨ne⟩ = 6.5×1019 m-3 and Pabs = 2.0 MW); (3) higher stored energyWpdia = 880 kJ; and (4) the highest β value inhelical devices (2.4% at B = 1.3 T). The energy confinement wassystematically higher than that predicted by the International StellaratorScaling 95 up to a factor of 1.6. Ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF)power up to 1.3 MW was reliably injected into the plasma withoutsignificant impurity contamination and a plasma with stored energy of200 kJ was sustained for 5 s by ICRF alone. Long pulse discharges greaterthan 1 min in duration have been successfully achieved with ICRF poweralone and with neutral beam injection (NBI) power alone. With NBI heatingan 80 s discharge was achieved with a heating power of 0.5 MW at 2.75 T.The electron density was maintained at around 1.6×1019 m-3 by controlled gas puffing. The central electron and iontemperatures were kept around 1.5 keV. With ICRF heating, a similar longpulse discharge was achieved for 68 s with a heating power of 0.85 MW. Thesustained plasma parameters are: Wp~110 kJ, Te(0)~Ti(0) = 2.0 keV and ⟨ne⟩ = 1.0×1019 m-3. During these discharges, no increase in radiationpower has been observed.