Ahead of biannual Aero India 2017 which will be held in aerospace capital Bengaluru from February 14, Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAl) has rolled out first indigenously upgraded Hawk Mk132 on Thursday. This would add to the training capabilities of Indian forces.
HAl Chairman and Managing Director T Suvarna Raju said in a statement that this project was conceived under make in India and this was the 100th Hawk produced by HAl. He said “This is the 100th Hawk aircraft produced at HAl and we are proud that it has ‘Make in India’ mark”.
HAl had conceived a programme for indigenous up gradation of the Hawk Mk132 for achieving self-reliance and has successfully accomplished it, the statement said.
“This aircraft, which was rolled out on the eve of Republic day, would be on the flying display in the forthcoming Aero-India 2017 at Bengaluru,” Raju added.
He said the upgrade was taken up so as to be independent in matters like integration of new sub-systems or modifications, obsolescence management of avionics systems and to enhance the aircraft operational and training capabilities.”HAl rolled out its own aircraft with the upgrades in a record time”, he added.
According to HAl in the Hawk upgradation programme, imported Mission Computer and Data Transfer Units have been substituted with HAl designed and developed systems. “This indigenous Mission Computer in the dual redundant configuration has additional capabilities such as Digital Map Generation which provide improved situational awareness”, he said.
The Embedded Virtual Training System offers improved training capability over the existing system. HAWK-i also provides secured voice communication and data link capability by integration of Softnet Radio and pilots can configure and select cockpit Human Machine Interface for different aircraft platforms.
Meanwhile HAl is showcasing HTT-40 (Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40) a new basic training aircraft being developed for the Indian Air Force (IAF) at the Aero India 2017. The new aircraft will replace the ageing fleet of HAl HPT-32 Deepak trainers that are in service with the IAF.
The HTT 40 will be primarily used for basic flight training, aerobatics, instrument flying and close-formation flights, whereas its secondary roles will include navigation and night-flying.
The first prototype of HTT-40 Trainer was rolled out from the Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC) hangar, in February 2016. The HTT-40 project was conceptualised by HAl to fulfil the IAF's requirement of 181 trainer aircraft. Due to the HTT-40's development delays, the air force placed an order in May 2012 for 75 Pilatus PC-7 Mk II turboprop trainers to meet its urgent operational requirements.
The HTT-40 is a fixed-wing aircraft incorporating an all-metal airframe design. It features a bubble canopy, T-tail configuration and a retractable tricycle landing gear system with a steerable nose wheel.