Navy to get 1st Hawk AJTs in July

The Indian Navy is set to receive the first four of its order of 17 Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) aircraft next month.

The aircraft, manufactured under license by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will be delivered to INS Dega at Visakhapatnam and will eventually take over the role of the eight Kiran Mk II training aircraft operated by the Indian Navy at INS Hansa at Goa.

These aircraft are part of a batch of 57 Hawks ordered jointly by the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force (IAF) for around 700 million pounds, the first 17 of which will go to the navy.

The second of eight Boeing P-8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance (LRMR) aircraft will also be delivered to the Indian Navy’s base INS Rajali next month. The first aircraft was delivered last month.

The IAF also plans to acquire an additional 20 aircraft for their Surya Kiran aerobatic team.

The delivery of a 2004 IAF order of 66 Hawk aircraft to the IAF was completed last year, with 42 being license-produced by HAL.

A Kiran Mk II of the Indian Navy’s Sagar Pawan aerobatic team crashed at Hyderabad during the Indian Aviation 2010 air show on in March, 2010, killing both crew members.

The first ten of the IAF order for 75 Pilatus PC-7 Mk II aircraft in an order worth around USD 600 million, were delivered last month, which will replace the indigenous HAL HPT-32 basic trainer aircraft, grounded last year following a number of crashes.