IAF:Shortage of Hawks hits pilots’ training

BANGALORE: An insufficient number of Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers (AJTs) has forced the Indian Air Force (IAF) to reduce by half the number of personnel who will train on these recently inducted aircraft. The IAF, which has started using the BAE Systems, designed and developed Hawk AJT at the Air Force Station at Bidar for the third and fourth semesters of its fighter pilot training programme. It was supposed to have 39 direct supply and licence assembled Hawks in its inventory by March 2009. Against this there are just 23 Hawks at Bidar, with some of these being grounded for want of spares, maintenance or quality control issues such as cockpit humidity. The shortage has meant that the IAF that had trained 18 trainees (out of a batch of 38) on the Hawk during their third semester (July–December 2008), and would have liked to train a further 18 (or more) from the current batch, has been forced to cut down the number to just nine (out of 35). This has resulted in more trainees flying the aging Hindustan Aeronautics Limited built, Kiran trainers, forcing the IAF to use an aircraft that is almost at the end of its service life. (A Kiran Mk2 used by the IAF’s aerobatic team crashed near Bidar on January 21 killing its pilot.) The shortage has arisen because of HAL’s inability to hand over 10-11 Hawks by December 2008 and 15 by March 2009, and also due to the non-availability of minor spares. Delay in deliveries HAL has delivered just one aircraft so far, prompting the Vice Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal P.V. Naik, to write to the Ministry of Defence to say that the “delay in deliveries would seriously affect the training schedule on Hawk aircraft.”The letter also says that the delays would “in the long term adversely affect the number of pilots available to operational squadrons of the IAF.” A senior officer told The Hindu that the IAF had managed to reduce aircraft downtime and the spares position was improving. Biggest worry “Though BAE Systems were aware of the tropical conditions the Hawks would operate in, neither they nor the IAF were able to anticipate problems associated with maintenance, workmanship and spares. The IAF has written numerous letters to BAE Systems and they have ensured that these issues will be sorted out. But our biggest worry is numbers.” Officials from HAL admit that the “delivery schedules have slipped by at least six months.”

Posted in: India,Training aircraft