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India Defence Online, New Delhi — The training programme for new pilots in the Indian Air Force (IAF) has been adversely affected ever since the grounding of the fleet of HPT-32 “Deepak” aircraft, after a mishap that claimed the lives of two IAF pilots in 2009.
However, things have started looking up for the IAF as it is about to begin trials for the new trainer aircraft wherein six competitors will showcase their trainer aircraft. The flight trials will begin this month in the western state of Gujarat.
The six competitors and their respective aircraft in the fray include GROB 120 TP of Germany, Embraer EMB 312 ‘Super Tucano’ of Brazil, Korean Aerospace Industries KT-1, Finmeccanica M-311 of Italy and Pilatus PC-7 of Switzerland. The Indian government has cleared an off-the-shelf acquisition of 75 and 106 will be built by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The main contractor will have to deliver the first 12 aircraft within 24 months of the contract and the remaining trainers will follow in batches.
According to IAF officials, the test pilots and flight test engineers to evaluate the planes have been finalised and they will be observing the details like flight characteristics, handling qualities, fuel consumption, and duration of sorties, ease of handling and operations, and available instrumentation. The basic trainer will be incorporated with simulators and Computer Aided Learning System.
The training schedule of the IAF was disrupted due to the lack of trainer aircraft and the IAF had warned the Indian Defence Ministry that the situation is dire and the number of replacement trainer aircraft needed is about one hundred. Currently, there are more than 100 HPT-32 with the IAF but they have all been kept back in the hangars. The IAF has lost over Rs 16 crore and 19 pilots in 17 HPT-32 aircraft crashes. The basic trainer HPT-32 of the IAF has reported the largest number of engine failures and repeated problems in its fuel transmission system.
Indian defence news and strategic intelligence
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