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14 August,2012
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has now received all 66 Hawk advanced jet trainers (AJTs) it had ordered from BAE Systems, which was made to pay damages of £6.5 million for supplying defective components that delayed the supply of the aircraft.
The details about the Hawk programme were shared with Parliament by Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju, who said that training of IAF pilots in 2010-11, planned on new advanced trainers, eventually took place in Mig-21 aircraft because of late delivery of aircraft by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which produced the trainers under licence.
Lack of training aircraft has been one of the major problem areas for IAF planners. All the three phases of training - basic, intermediate and advanced - suffered from absence of adequate number of modern aircraft.
The IAF eventually would have more than 140 advanced jet trainers after the additional 66 Hawk trainers are being made available. With new deals lined up, the IAF would look to revive its Surya Kiran aerobatic team with Hawk AJTs. The Surya Kiran team, flying Kiran intermediate jet trainers, had stopped flying because of shortage of aircraft.
While the advanced training requirements are being met, the IAF hopes that its basic stage programme would start getting back on track by 2013 when the first batch of Pilatus PC 7 aircraft, ordered recently from the Swiss company, would be delivered.
But the IAF will continue to have problems with the intermediate stage. An intermediate trainer is being developed by HAL but it is facing design problems.
Indian Air Force's full fleet of Hawk trainers adds muscle to flying training : North, News - India Today
