In total, 68 of them are to be procured from HAL by the government to replace the ageing fleet of basic trainer aircraft in the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Come 2018 and the rookie pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) can look forward to training on new indigenous aircraft as the defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on Tuesday rolled out the first prototype of the Hindustan Turbo Trainer – 40 (HTT-40).
In total, 68 of them are to be procured from HAL by the government to replace the ageing fleet of basic trainer aircraft in the Indian Air Force (IAF).
IAF is looking to build up an inventory of 181 trainers even as 59 Pilatus PC-7 aircraft from Switzerland have already been inducted and 38 more of them are in the process of being procured.
IAF, in the past has raised apprehensions over the HTT-40's quality but government backed HAL which invested more than Rs 300 crore to construct a platform for manufacturing the aircraft.
"It is important that all of us work towards meeting deadlines by overcoming challenges to meet the expectations at various levels. The project has managed to steer through the initial headwinds and now is going full throttle. There are plans to weaponize and optimize HTT-40 aircraft", .HAL Chairman Suvarna Raju said in a statement issued by the organisation.
Officials said that the aircraft is now ready for undertaking ground runs and taxi trials which will be followed by its maiden flight tests later this month.
HTT-40 is expected to complete its flight trials by by 2017 and induction in IAF by 2018.
HTT-40's role include basic flying training, aerobatics, instrument flying, navigation, night flying and close aircraft defence formation in air. It will be used in the first stage training of rookie pilots even as the other HAL made indigenous aircraft trainer Kiran completed 50 years of its service in the IAF last year.
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