Panel set up to expedite procurement of AJTs

The Government has also constituted a high-level committee under the chairmanship of the Vice Chief of Army Staff to go into the procurement procedure and suggest suitable modifications.

The move follows severe criticism of the Defence Ministry by the Parliamentary Committee which said "indecision" on the part of the government for over a decade on the AJT project had cost the country countless lives of precious pilots.

Many aircraft had been destroyed and the training schedule of the pilots suffered immensely, the Committee said.