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British Hawk chosen as Advanced Jet Trainer

After years of indecision, the defence ministry has picked the British Hawk as the much needed Advanced Jet Trainer for the Indian Air Force.

The IAF plans to buy 66 of these aircraft. The Hawk of British Aerospace and the French Alpha Jet had been short-listed to meet the IAF's pressing requirement more than a decade ago.

The defence ministry, during its evidence to the parliamentary standing committee said a 'single vendor situation' had been reached and the steps required now will be to look at the British Aerospace offer quickly and negotiate the flyaway aircraft they will be able to give since the need for them is badly felt.

In its demands for grant report placed in both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha today, the committee said detailed discussions in terms of indigenous production with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited were also being done.

The standing committee had felt that because of the government's indecision, and the frequent re-committal of the AJT proposal to various committees and technical groups, the training of IAF pilots had adversely suffered, many pilots got killed and many aircraft had been destroyed resulting in loss of millions of rupees.

The committee had taken a serious view of the existing poor decision making mechanism of the government for acquiring essential equipment for defence, and recommended that it take urgent measures to streamline the procedures laid down for selection, trial, acquisition and induction of equipment.

At the time when both short-listed options were first found technically viable in 1986, Hawk, which was of 1970s vintage, had a ten-year advantage over the Alpha Jet. Still, the latter continued to be a live option with the government.

The special committee on flight safety in 1982, while spelling out the characteristics of the AJT and recommending its urgent induction for training purposes, opined that the new system should be viable for 20 to 25 years.

The standing committee had therefore doubted whether the options Short-listed in 1986 of the designs of vintages of the 1960s and 1970s would meet the country's training requirements up to the first quarter of the millennium.

The MiG-21 trainer aircraft currently used for stage three training of IAF pilots are approaching the end of their technical life and the strength of these planes is expected to decrease over the coming years. Hence, the urgent need for new AJTs.

The government had said that the Alpha Jet and Hawk, though originally designed in the '60s and '70s, were the only two aircraft which had met the maximum number of parameters of the air staff requirements for the AJT.

The aero-engine of the Hawk had since been upgraded by British Aerospace to incorporate the latest advances of technology. The aero-engine of the Alpha Jet was also current in technology as was evident from the fact that it had been selected to power the Russian MiG-AT currently under development.

Air headquarters had reviewed the avionics configuration of the AJT from time to time so that it would have a large commonality with the upgraded MiG versions, Sukhoi-30 as well as avionics systems of Western origin aircraft like the Jaguar and Mirage.

It was therefore felt that these two short-listed aircraft, which continue to be in operation with several air forces of developed countries, could meet the training requirements of the IAF for the next 25 years.

Air headquarters had carried out comprehensive evaluation of many of the leading trainer aircraft before zeroing in on the Hawk and Alpha Jet.

The standing committee felt that the government had very casually responded to the suggestions of HAL, which had been asked to take on the indigenous AJT project in 1985, to shift the time-frame by two years or contract the assistance of a proven design house from abroad. This was because HAL was already committed to the development of the Light Combat Aircraft and Advanced Light Helicopter.

The committee had recommended that the government should identify all those who failed to act on the suggestion of HAL and to keep the parallel route of indigenous manufacture of AJT also alive at that time.

Air headquarters had taken a decision to avoid the indigenous design and development route because it thought that the assignment of design and development of the AJT aircraft at HAL would put a financial burden on HAL's resources and in turn affect the progress of the LCA and ALH.

UNI

EARLIER REPORTS:

Political hurdles may delay AJT acquisition
IAF close to clinching AJT deal
AJT decision maybe delayed again
AJTs maybe inducted during current Plan
CAG calls for urgent induction of AJTs in IAF

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