CCS clears Rs 10k cr training platforms for IAF, Navy

The ships will be procured under the Buy Indian-IDDM (indigenously designed, developed and manufactured) category of the defence acquisition procedure—the manual governing all defence capital procurements.

The delivery of ships is scheduled to start from 2026 and will be used in the training of officer cadets, including women, at sea after their basic training to meet the future requirements of the Indian Navy, the defence ministry said in a statement.

“The ships would also provide training to cadets from friendly countries with the aim to strengthen diplomatic relations,” the ministry said, adding that the ships can also be deployed for evacuation of people and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations.

The ships will be constructed at L&T shipyard in Kattupalli, Chennai, and the project is estimated to generate an employment of 22.5 lakh man-days over a period of four-and-half years.

A senior officer of the Navy explained that training on Cadet Training Ships form the very foundation of a sea-going officer.

“The cadets are exposed to the hardships and professional conduct of operating ships at sea and they carry out all duties from cleaning decks to theoretical training to keeping watches in the bridge, machinery control room and other critical spaces to understand the nuances of these jobs at sea,” the officer said.

The CCS also approved the procurement of 70 HTT-40 Basic Trainer Aircraft from HAL for the IAF at a cost of Rs 6,828.36 crore. It will be supplied over six years.

The HTT-40—a tandem seat trainer has an air-conditioned cockpit, modern avionics, hot refuelling, running change over and zero-zero ejection seats.

At present, the IAF operates the Swiss Pilatus PC-7 MkII aircraft for conducting the basic training for pilots, which was earlier done in the Kirans. The HJT-16 Kirans, which is essentially used for the intermediate training of the pilots, were used as a basic trainer aircraft to fill up the gap in pilots’ basic training when the HAL-made HPT-32 aircraft was grounded on account of multiple crashes and the Swiss Pilatus PC-7 MkII aircraft was yet to arrive.

“The procurement will include associated equipment and training aids including simulators. Being an indigenous solution, the Aircraft is configurable for upgrades to incorporate the futuristic requirements of Indian Armed Forces,” the defence ministry said.

As per the defence ministry, the HTT-40 has about 56% indigenous content which will progressively increase to over 60% through indigenisation of major components and subsystems in the future.