The Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), on 27 July, signed a $100-million contract with the US-based Honeywell for 88 engines to power the indigenous HTT-40 basis trainer aircraft, even as the state-owned plane manufacturer eyes a contract from the Indian Air Force for such aircraft, officials familiar with the matter said.
“HAL has successfully developed the basic trainer aircraft (HTT-40) to address the training requirements of IAF. There is a potential requirement of 70 aircraft. The contract with IAF for the same is in an advanced stage of approval,” chairman R Madhavan said.
The central government has imposed a phased ban on the import of 310 different types of weapons and systems to boost self-reliance in the defence manufacturing sector, and basic trainers feature on that list.
Rookie pilots in the IAF go through a three-stage training process involving the Pilatus PC-7 MkII basic trainers, Surya Kiran trainers and finally the British-origin Hawk advanced jet trainers before they can fly fighter jets.
In August 2020, the defence ministry gave a go-ahead for the purchase of indigenous basic trainer aircraft for IAF to provide a push to the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (self-reliant India) vision.
The defence acquisition council (DAC) accorded its acceptance of necessity (AoN) to buy 106 HTT-40 aircraft from HAL. Under India’s defence procurement rules, an AoN by the council is the first step towards buying military hardware. The IAF plans to order the basic trainers in two batches – 70 and 36, the officials said.
The HTT-40 aircraft has undergone a string of elaborate tests at HAL to demonstrate that it is safe for rookie pilots and meets the IAF’s exacting standards for trainer planes.
