14 years on, IAF jet trainer still not ready

NEW DELHI: Proper training of rookie IAF pilots remains under a cloud with Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) still struggling to deliver its intermediate jet trainer (IJT), in the making for the last 14 years but yet to become fully-operational.

While HAL has now promised the initial operational clearance (IOC) for its Sitara IJT by June 2014, IAF remains skeptical given the trainer has missed deadlines at least five times since 2007.

Pilots are trained in three stages, first on a basic trainer aircraft (BTA), then on a IJT and finally on an advanced jet trainer (AJT) to learn the complex and inherently-dangerous art of combat flying.

IAF has for long been saddled with unsafe, obsolete training aircraft like HPT-32 and Kirans, with new pilots often being unable to handle highly-demanding fighters like MiG-21s. Almost 40% of the 1,050 crashes recorded by IAF since 1970, for instance, have been attributed to "human error (aircrew)".

IAF may be now breathing easy on the basic and advanced training fronts, with the ongoing induction of Swiss Pilatus PC-7 BTA and British Hawk AJTs, but the intermediate one remains a major problem.

For one, Sitara cannot as yet "stall and spin", which is a critical manoeuvre to train young cadets on how to handle emergencies, hold their nerve and retrieve their planes from a spin. HAL is now closer to resolving this with help of experts from BAE Systems, said sources.

But another major issue is the IJT's Russian AL-55I engine, which initially had a "time between overhauls (TBO)" of only 100 hours. After demanding more money, over the initial $350 million contract, Russia is now extending the TBO to 300 hours.

But IAF wants the TBO be about 1,200 hours. "A trainer aircraft flies six to eight sorties daily, clocking around 10 hours. If the TBO is just 100 hours, the engine will have to be replaced every 10 days. This will require more engines and overhauls, apart from the planes sitting on ground for longer periods," said a source.

Given all this, IAF has been forced to extend the operational life of its aging Kirans by another four years. It has refused to give more money to HAL for the IJT, over the Rs 4,500 crore already shelled out, till Sitara reaches "some verifiable milestone".

In all, with 240 new trainee pilots every year, IAF requires 181 BTA, 85 IJTs and 106 AJTs. India has already inducted a bulk of the 123 Hawk AJTs ordered for its air force and naval pilots in an overall project worth around Rs 16,000 crore.

The BTA issue, in turn, has been somewhat resolved with the Rs 2,896 crore deal for 75 Swiss Pilatus inked in May 2012. But IAF and HAL are still locked in a tussle over the additional requirement of 106 BTA, with the former asking the PSU to make the Swiss trainer under licensed production. But HAL is pushing its own under-development HTT-40 as the BTA. IAF contends it wants the IJT, and not two types of BTA.

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