Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which has absorbed the Hawk technology, is confident of supporting it for the next 40 years.
BENGALURU, FEBRUARY 23: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which has absorbed the Hawk technology, is confident of supporting it for the next 40 years.
The aircraft is currently being produced at HAL under licence from BAeS of the UK and the first aircraft was handed over to Indian Air Force (IAF) in 2008.
Tech absorption
The Hawk 132 is an Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) with tandem dual seats meant to provide basic and advanced flying as well as weapons training.
T Suvarna Raju, Chairman, HAL, speaking at the 75th Hawk aircraft handover ceremony at the Aero India show, said, “We have absorbed the Hawk technology completely and will be able to support the project for next 40 years.â€
Air Marshal Ramesh Rai, AOC-in-C, Training Command, said Hawk has been of great service to IAF and has flown over 70,000 hours.
Production programme of 42 Hawks to IAF was concluded in 2011-12. The second contract was signed between IAF and HAL on July 23, 2010 for supply of 40 Hawk AJT and associated equipment.
Contract with Navy
A contract was signed between the Indian Navy and HAL on July 23, 2010 for supply of 17 Hawk AJT and associated equipment. HAL has so far produced 10 aircraft and would be producing all the 17 aircraft by 2016-17.
HAL also commemorated 50 years of Kiran aircraft flying.
“HAL’s indigenously-built Kiran trainer aircraft, that has been the mainstay of the IAF for the past 50 years, will continue to be maintained for the next three to four years,†said K Naresh Babu, Managing Director, HAL Bangalore Complex.
He was speaking at an event organised to commemorate the golden jubilee celebrations of Kiran flying, at Aero India 2015.
Kiran aircraft has trained more than 10,000 pilots and clocked 12 lakh hours. This occasion not only marks 50 years of flying of Kiran but also 50 years of HAL’s indigenous development.
Apart from training pilots, Kiran aircraft was part of the IAF’s aerobatics team named ‘Surya Kiran’ and has participated in all major air shows across the globe.
