Indian Air Force BAe Hawk Jet Trainers To Arrive Sunday
Dated 10/11/2007
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The Indian Air Force (IAF), which has purchased 66 Hawk advanced jet trainers (AJTs) from Britain's BAE Systems, will receive the first two aircraft Sunday - an event described as a 'red letter day' in the history of the force that has been awaiting the planes for almost a quarter of a century.
The two aircraft, which left Britain Friday, will be ceremoniously received at the Bidar air base in Karnataka Sunday afternoon. Another four aircraft are expected to arrive by the end of the year. This will be the IAF's first induction of new aircraft after the frontline Sukhoi Su-30MKI combat jets a decade ago. 'It will be a red letter day in our history,' said former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, during whose tenure the Rs.80 billion ($2 billion) Hawk deal was signed after protracted negotiations with a number of manufacturers.
BAE Systems will supply 24 Hawks in flyaway condition and the remaining 42 will be manufactured under license by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at its Bangalore complex. 'The strategic role of the IAF is set to increase in the coming years and the Hawk will play a major role in this as we train our pilots to fly supersonic fighters,' Tyagi told IANS on the sidelines of a defence function here. 'We need the Hawk as a man needs food to survive,' he added.
Some 60 IAF pilots have already undergone training in batches at RAF Valley in Britain to operate the Hawk and will, in turn, train other pilots at the Bidar airbase. Currently, the IAF trains its rookie pilots on the sub-sonic Kiran-Mark II aircraft at the Bidar flying school, from where they are straightaway catapulted to the MiG-21 fighters and other combat jets. The HAL has been working on developing an intermediate jet trainer (IJT) that is on the verge of induction in the IAF.
In anticipation of the Hawk's arrival, the facilities at Bidar have been upgraded with the runway being extended and new hangars and parking bays being added. Bidar is also home to the IAF's 52 Squadron or the Suryakiran aerobatic display team, as it is better known. They currently fly the Kiran-Mark II and at some stage, when adequate numbers are inducted, will convert to the Hawk.