Set back for Make in India initiative after IAF says no to advanced Hawk trainer jets



This could be termed as a setback to Make in India initiative, as the Indian Air force has said ‘no’ to the India-United Kingdom jointly developed upgraded advanced Hawk trainer jets. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in collaboration with BAE systems of United Kingdom jointly developed a combat-ready aircraft, which will be launched in the upcoming 11th edition of Aero India to be held in Bengaluru from February 14. 

Though the advanced dual version of the Hawk trainer jet will make its debut in next week’s air show, but sources in the Indian Airforce claimed that the force has shown no interest in the combat variant of the aircraft. “So far, we have no intentions to place any order for the upgraded version of Hawk trainers,” said a senior IAF officer. IAF operates around 123 Hawk Mk.132 jets that provide Stage-III training before pilots progress to operational fighters like the Mirage 2000, Su-30MKI, MiG-29 or Jaguar.

  India air force and Indian navy are flying Hawk Mk 132 variant for training with over 100,000 flying hours. Besides its main customer i.e IAF, even Navy has also not worked out any plan to place an order for the upgraded combat ready variant of Hawk. Left with no order, it may be manufactured for export to neighbouring countries, according to a HAL source. The Advanced Hawk has been in the works for two years under a unique model with Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) and BAE, as both entities signed a Memorandum of Understand in 2015 during the same Aero India show.

  Sources said that the advanced Hawk will reduce training demands on more expensive frontline aircraft, creating additional capacity for operational tasks. Hawk jet with air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, rockets and bombs to transform it into a combat platform. Sources in HAL and BAE Systems revealed that advanced training has several latest features to give the aircraft additional agility, extra power and the ability to carry a range of conventional and precision weapons for an operational role. Stephen Timms, ? Managing Director – Defence Information, Training & Services said “The Advanced Hawk is a testimonial of our commitment to sharing technology, capability and knowledge to build advanced systems in India, for India, and from India. 

 Together with HAL, we are looking forward to show this industry-funded demonstrator to the Indian and other Air Forces and seeking their feedback on the combination of features that will better prepare student combat pilots for the demands of frontline aircraft. ”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Network Centric Warfare Capabilities & INDIAN ARMED FORCES

Image
By: Next Generation Weapons Technology Network Centric Warfare and Indian Navy & IAF and land based units. More satellites will be launched as grid as launched previously. In addition to making platforms and infrastructure for network centricity, the Navy has also made organizational changes to create and efficiently manage the transition to seamless Network Centric capabilities. The creation of a new post of Assistant Chief of Naval S taff (Communications Space and Network Centric Operations) is step in the process to migrate from a ‘Platform Centric Navy’ to a ‘Network Enabled Navy’. During various exercises, Network Centric Warfare (NCW) has been one of the crucial aspects being validated. During the various coordinated exercises conducted by the Army with the Air Force, the endeavor has been to validate and integrate the use of all available assets, including satellites, UAVs and HUMINT (Human intelligence) to assist commanders at all levels in taking dynamic and pr
Read more

The Heat is on!! for INDIA as China Unveils its 5th Gen Stealth J20 Fighter Jet ; Pakistan expresses interest to buy

Image
China on Tuesday unveiled its J-20 stealth fighter jet at its biggest air show which will have major implications for India as it is the first indigenously-made fifth-generation Chinese aircraft which Pakistan has shown interest in acquiring. Two J-20 aircraft which made waves in the Chinese media in the last few years flew at the Zhuhai city air show where the Pakistan Air Force is also taking part flying with its J-17 Thunder jets which are jointly manufactured with China. This is the first, public show of the J-20 warplane. Pakistan, the largest importer of Chinese arms has said earlier that it is in talks with China to buy the FC-31 - an export variant of the same aircraft. The FC-31 was briefly flown in the 2014 Zhuhai airshow. The stealth aircraft is regarded as major breakthrough for China which is otherwise mostly reliant on Russian aircraft including advanced versions of Sukhois. India is yet to make stealth aircraft which can penetrate through enemy radars. The J
Read more

CHINESE PLA army conducts exercise with advanced Ballistic Missile

Image
China’s newly-formed Rocket Force has held an exercise with advanced DF-16 medium-range ballistic missile with a range of over 1,000km that could threaten a number countries, including India, Japan and the US.  Significantly the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which is secretive about its weapons systems, has released a video of the recent exercise of its troops employing the advanced DF-16 medium-range ballistic missile.  China’s Rocket Force is a special contingent to handle range of missiles in its military’s arsenal. Several launch vehicles carrying the ballistic missiles were seen in the footage released to show the training of Rocket Force missile brigade soldiers around the Spring Festival holiday.  The participating units handled a number of scenarios, including chemical/biological contamination, countering satellite reconnaissance and electronic jamming, state-run China Daily reported on Monday.  The crews practiced in multiple manoeuvres, such as rapid loading, r
Read more