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Hawk all set to land in IAF coffers

2006-03-11 Bidar: The countdown for the much-awaited induction of Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers has begun as IAF has started 18 infrastructure development projects worth Rs 120 crore in Air Force Station, Bidar, and for acquiring forest land near it.

Construction of a new hangar, a new ATC building, Armament Centre, extension of the existing runways to 9,000 feet and upgradation of various other infrastructures will be completed in June 2007 as part of the projects undertaken to accommodate hawk in Bidar Air Force station, which has been selected the main operating base for the British AJTs.

"Hawk will require better security environment and infrastructure and we will finish the requirements by June 2007," said Air Commodore J S Dhillon, Commanding Officer, Air Force Station, Bidar adding that delivery of the Hawk AJTs will commence from September, 2007.

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has sanctioned Rs.140 crores for creation of hawk-related infrastructure at the station and accordingly work on the projects were started in January, he said.

He said the IAF has written to the Ministry of Forest and Environment for acquiring 1935 acres of land in a village called Nirna, about 30 km from Bidar.

"Since the Hawk will be firing armament and armament firing is a requirement for stage iii training that we will be doing on the Hawk, we have made a bid to acquire approximately 1935 acres in a village called Nirna which is approximately 30 kilometers from Bidar," he said.

"We managed to obtain 'No Objection Certificate' for the acquisition of 1199 acres of private land. However, NOC for acquisition of forest land could not be obtained as the state government is not empowered to issue NOC for forest land," added Air Commodore Dhillon.

In 2004, India had signed a Rs 8,000 crore deal with British Aerospace (BAE) systems to acquire Hawk 66 AJTs to meet the transonic fighter trainer requirements for the IAF.

Of these 66 aircraft, 24 are being supplied by BAE in ready to fly condition while the rest would be manufactured at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited under license production.

After finalisation of the procurement deal for 66 Hawk AJTs in March 2004, a team BAE Systems visited Bidar in May 2004 and reviewed the existing facilities and then prepared a 'facilities requirement plan'.

Subsequently, BAE Systems were asked for a 'facility data pakage' (FDP) for every facility that had to be created for and according to the FDP's all facilities are being created as per specifications provided by the manufacturer, he said.

He said the IAF has been sending pilots for Hawk training in batches of six to eight to the Royal Air Force (RAF) Valley in UK since June 2004 and four batches have already completed their training there.

Three batches are currently undergoing training in RAF Valley and the eighth batch will leave for UK on Mar 27, he said.

A total of 75 IAF pilots will be trained in RAF Valley. The training is scheduled to be completed by the end of February, 2008.

Dhillon said the selected Hawk trainees are put through a special flying syllabus called the pre Hawk training, designed after extensive interaction with RAF qualified flying instructors. The pre Hawk training takes place for seven weeks in Bidar.

He said few instructors will also be sent to RAF Valley as the pilots join the squadrons after completing their training in UK and do not come back to the training command.

He said IAF modifies the training module for pre Hawk trainees so that the trainees could cope up with the training in RAF Valley as flying in UK is quite different from flying in India.

"We receive a fortnightly feedback from our trainees at the RAF Valley, based on which we modify the syllabus and the recent feedback reports suggest that our modification is paying dividends and our students are coping with and doing much better than the first two batches," the Commanding Officer said.

According to him the Hawk package will also include four simulators which will facilitate initial training on ground.

"Hawk simulators would make a major contribution to more effective training, especially for young pilots being initiated to fighter flying," he said adding that simulators provide all kinds of practice in ground whatever one can practice in air.