Panel recommends crackdown on AJT bungle

NEW DELHI, FEB 28: For a 13-year-long flip-flop on the purchase of Advance Jet Trainer AJT, the Standing Committee on Defence has recom...

NEW DELHI, FEB 28: For a 13-year-long flip-flop on the purchase of Advance Jet Trainer AJT, the Standing Committee on Defence has recommended that the government identify the people responsible for decision-making and initiate appropriate proceedings against them for 8220;dereliction of duty towards the nation.8221;

Because of this 8220;dereliction of duty8221;, the Air Force lost as many as 551 aircraft and 200 pilots were killed due to training on inappropriate aircraft. Some of the 8220;live options8221; the government is considering today are already outdated, says the committee report. The committee is headed by Squadron Leader retd Kamal Chaudhary.

Young fighter pilots continue to get training on the Hunters, a 1950s vintage transonic combat aircraft, the last squadron of which was phased out of the Air Force in 1996. The other trainer jet is MiG 21 1960s vintage trainer variant which is equally beset with innumerable problems. The aircraft are ageing and require replacement. But spares are no longer beingmanufactured and vendors have resorted to supplying reconditioned spares and consequently the failure rates have been high, the report points out.The committee has also castigated the government on the viability of its short-listed options. British-make Hawks are of the 1970s vintage and the French Alfa Jets which even today are a live option are as old as the MiG 21s. The Special Committee on Flight Safety 1982 while spelling out characteristics of AJTs for IAF had recommended a system viable for at least 20-25 years.

The committee said that the government from the beginning was concentrating and seriously examining only Hawk and Alfa Jet options. The committee has expressed serious displeasure over the failure of the government to take proper paper and flight evaluations of all other superior options. And recommended that the government urgently evaluate all other options that have come into the market.

The committee has also pointed fingers at the government8217;s procrastinating technique ofcommitting and re-committing the matter with a view to wash its hands of the matter. The actions of the government have been found to be 8220;deplorable8221; for non-availability of an AJT continues to take a heavy toll in terms of training-related accidents.

Following the 8220;lack of honest intentions8221; of the government in acquiring AJTs for young pilots and in the face of sacrifices that the pilots make in case of emergency try and save the aircraft; if impossible then try to steer clear of populated areas; and in the end eject, the committee recommends that the government within the shortest possible time mobilise adequate resources and clinch one of the options before it.

There is also a strong recommendation to acquire or produce the AJT and keep the parallel channel of designing and developing a futuristic AJT for the IAF.