First 6 Indian Hawks report for duty

New Delhi, July 13: As the Indian Air Force (IAF) prepares to make its debut appearance at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) later this week, the first six Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers destined for it have achieved Interim Acceptance -- marking a significant milestone in the Indian Hawk programme.

According to reports received here today from Warton, UK, where the BAE Systems Technical Training Academy is located, the IAF has accorded Interim Acceptance to the aircraft thus paving the way for instructor pilot and maintenance training to commence.

The reports quoted Mr Dave Corfield, Hawk Project Director - India, as having said, "Interim acceptance represents the IAF agreeing that the aircraft produced meets the standard required to allow instructor pilot and maintenance training to commence, so it is a major step forward on the programme." Three of the Hawks were currently being used to convert IAF instructor pilots to the aircraft at BAE Systems Warton, in a partnership between BAE Systems and the RAF. The training will be extended to include Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) test pilots later this month. This is part of the aircrew training package that has already seen 50 IAF pilots undergo training, delivered by BAE Systems and the RAF, using the Hawk Synthetic Training Facility and RAF Hawks based at RAF Valley.

The further three IAF Hawks that have been through the interim acceptance process were now situated in the Technical Training Academy at BAE Systems Warton, where they were being used to train IAF technicians, who will support and maintain the aircraft when it enters service.

The six aircraft are the first of 66 new Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers for the IAF. The first 24 aircraft are being built at BAE Systems' facilities in Brough, East Yorkshire, UK, with flight-testing and customer acceptance taking place at Warton in Lancashire.

The remaining 42 aircraft would be manufactured under licence in India through a partnership with the Bangalore-based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

The first aircraft will be delivered to the Indian Air Force by BAE Systems in September, later this year.

In February 2003, India awarded a 1.7 billion Dollar contract to supply 66 Hawk trainer fighter jets to the UK company, BAE Systems.

Of the 66 trainer jets, it was finally decided that 22 would be delivered in "fly-away" condition and the rest would be manufactured in India under licence under a technology-transfer deal.

The IAF concerned at its depleting fleet consequent to a number of crashes it suffered during the 90s had originally wanted 160 AJTs but reduced that number to 66 due to budget constraints.

UNI