Hawk AJTs inducted, to replace MiG 21s

More than two decades after they were first demanded to bridge a crucial gap in the fighter pilot training programme...

More than two decades after they were first demanded to bridge a crucial gap in the fighter pilot training programme, the Indian Air Force (IAF) inducted the Hawk 132 Advanced Jet Trainers (AJT) at a formal ceremony on Saturday.

The British made trainers, the first new induction into the IAF after the SU 30 MKIs came in 2001, will replace the ‘highly unforgiving’ MiG 21s that are currently being used to impart final stage training to fighter pilots in the country and have come under constant fire due to their high accident rates. The Hawks, procured in 2004 after a two-decade delay that led to increasing pilot losses and public anger, will now take on final training for fighter pilots, including aerial and air-to-ground combat that was being done on MiG 21s and the Kiran Mk II aircraft.

The sudden transition of young pilots from the Kiran Mk II to the supersonic MiG 21s was considered to be a big gap in the training programme and the need of an AJT was ‘first articulated by IAF’ in 1982. “The transition from the slower Kiran to the much more demanding MiG 21 was a huge gap in technology and capability. The Hawks will also help in easy transition to modern fighters like the SU 30 MKIs and the Mirage 2000,” Wing Commander M Fernandez, Chief Instructor at the Bidar training base, said.

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While eight of the 66 Hawks on order were inducted at the ceremony, Defence Minister A K Antony said IAF would order 40 more of the aircraft to fulfil its entire training needs. The Bidar airbase has undergone a Rs 120-crore upgrade as the main operating base for the trainers.

While the first batch of pilot officers will begin training on the new aircraft in July, they will not be able to conduct air-to-ground training at the airbase due to the lack of a firing range near Bidar. A case for a 2000 acre ground firing range at Nirna—30 km from the base—is pending before the Defence Ministry.

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