HAL hands over first 3 HTT-40 trainer aircraft to IAF:Vessals to be deployed at Hyderabad’s Air Force Academy to train new pilots; 57% made in India

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) handed over the first three HTT-40 basic trainer aircraft to the Indian Air Force on Wednesday. It may take up to two years for training to begin for completely new pilots. The first HTT-40 was delivered in Bengaluru on 18 September. The IAF will deploy the aircraft at the Air Force Academy near Hyderabad to train new pilots. A fleet of 25-30 aircraft will first have to be prepared for this. In addition, flying instructors will need to be trained so that they can teach new pilots to fly the aircraft. HTT-40 is named Ankur HTT-40 has been named ‘Ankur’. It has been indigenously developed to meet the Indian defence services’ initial pilot training requirements. The Ministry of Defence has awarded a contract for 70 HTT-40 aircraft. The current handover marks the start of deliveries under this contract. However, this is not the first indigenously developed aircraft to be used for training Indian pilots. Before this, the IAF had also used indigenous trainer aircraft such as HAL’s HPT-32 ‘Deepak’. Training is currently conducted on the Pilatus PC-7 MkII At present, new pilots undergo their initial flying training on the Pilatus PC-7 MkII basic trainer aircraft. They are then assigned to the fighter, transport and helicopter streams. HAL had handed over Tejas to the Air Force and Dhruv helicopters to Pawan Hans Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) held a handover ceremony for fighter jets and helicopters in Bengaluru on 18 September. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Civil Aviation Minister K. Ram Mohan Naidu attended the programme. During the ceremony, two Light Combat Aircraft two-seat trainer Tejas aircraft and a basic trainer aircraft, the Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40, were handed over to the Indian Air Force. Four next-generation Dhruv helicopters were also handed over to Pawan Hans Limited.