NEW DELHI: Seventeen years after the IAF grounded its entire fleet of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited-built HPT-32 ‘Deepak’ basic trainers following a series of fatal crashes, rookie pilots will once again train on a homegrown aircraft, with HAL on Friday handing over the first three HTT-40 turboprop trainers to the force.
The HAL-developed aircraft will enter the IAF’s Stage-I or ab-initio, flying-training pipeline, alongside the Swiss-origin Pilatus PC-7 Mk-II fleet that has trained the force’s rookie pilots since the HPT-32s were grounded. The HTT-40 will initially complement, rather than replace, the 75 PC-7s currently in service.
The handover, in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and IAF chief Air Chief Marshal A P Singh, marks the culmination of a programme that had once faced scepticism within the IAF and took more than a decade to reach production.
The story goes back to July 2009, when an HPT-32 crashed while landing at the Air Force Academy in Dundigal, killing both instructor pilots on board. The piston-engine trainer, itself designed and built by HAL, had been plagued by engine cut-outs and fuel-system problems. It had been involved in 17 crashes that claimed 19 lives, prompting the IAF to ground all 114 aircraft.
The grounding left the IAF without a dedicated basic trainer and forced it to use Kiran jets for the initial stage of pilot training. To bridge the gap, the MoD turned to Switzerland’s Pilatus, signing a Rs 2,900-crore contract in 2012 for 75 PC-7 Mk-IIs.
The HTT-40 was subsequently developed by HAL as an indigenous replacement. The Defence Acquisition Council cleared 106 aircraft in 2020, but the requirement was later reduced to 70 under a Rs 6,828-crore contract signed in March 2023.
The deliveries of the trainer were originally scheduled to begin in September last year, but were delayed by shortages of the American Honeywell TPE331-12B engines. HAL has since also ramped up production capacity at Bengaluru and Nashik to 20 HTT-40s a year.
The HTT-40 is fully aerobatic and features a glass cockpit, modern avionics and zero-zero ejection seats. It can also be used for instrument flying, formation flying, aerobatics, navigation and night flying.
The IAF, however, needs around 180 basic trainers, meaning the 70-aircraft order will not by itself meet the force’s requirement. HAL has said it expects to complete the deliveries in another four-five years.
The handover also comes as HAL completes the IAF’s original order for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas. The company also handed over the last two twin-seat Final Opertional Clearance (FOC) Tejas Mk-1 trainers, completing the original 40-aircraft Mk-1 order placed by the IAF.
The completion of the original Tejas order comes even as deliveries under the subsequent 83-aircraft Mk-1A contract, signed in 2021, are yet to begin, with the programme facing delays linked to the supply of GE F404 engines and radar integration issues.