Bengaluru-based Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAl) has handed over 75 Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) to Indian Air Force at the ongoing Aero India 2015. According to the Chairman of HAl, T Suvarna Raju, the HAl would support the project for another 40 years.
He said "we have absorbed the Hawk technology completely and will be able to support the project for another 40 years." "Of the 26 Hawk, 19 will be delivered to the Air force and seven to the Navy by the end of next fiscal year," he added. He said that HAl would roll out 26 more advanced jet trainer (AJT) Hawks for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Indian Navy by end of fiscal 2016-17.
HAl is manufacturing the single-engined Hawk Mk-132 version under a production license from the Britain-based BAE Systems, which has initially secured an order in March 2004 for 66 trainers for the IAF, including 24 off-the-shelf from its facility and the remaining 42 through the Indian aerospace major at a cost of Rs.8,000 crore. The company also got an order in 2010 to supply 17 naval variants of the trainer to the Navy.
The Air force has based the Hawk squadrons at its Bidar base in north Karnataka to train its rookie pilots in flying supersonic fighters like the MiG, Jaguar, Mirage and Sukhoi SU-30MKI.
Air Marshal Ramesh Rai, who heads the IAF's Yelahanka-based Training Command, said the Hawk had been of great service to force and has flown over 70,000 hours. The tandem-seat trainer is used to give advanced flying and weapons training to Air force pilots.
With capability to be used as a ground attack aircraft or for air Defence, Hawk can also be flown at night and perform a wide range of aerobatic manoeuvres.
BAE has supplied to HAl the Hawk's fuselage, kits for equipping them, wings, accessories and other material for 20 assemblies. HAl's avionics divisions at Hyderabad and Korba in Chhattisgarh provide the integrated navigation and attack system.C