BENGALURU, Feb 21: Public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has handed over the 75th Hawk aircraft to Indian Air Force (IAF) at a function held at Aero India 2015 here.
T Suvarna Raju, Chairman, HAL said,”we have absorbed the Hawk technology completely and will be able to support the project for next 40 years.”
The aircraft is currently being produced at HAL under licence from BAeS, UK and the first aircraft was handed over to IAF in August, 2008.
Air Marshal Ramesh Rai AOC-in-C, Training Command said Hawk has been of great service to IAF and has flown over 70,000 hrs. Hawk 132, the British Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) now being jointly produced at HAL, has tandem dual seats meant to provide basic and advanced flying and weapons training.
The cockpit provides excellent field of view and the aircraft is equipped with Inertial Navigation/Global Positioning System, Head-Up Display and Hands-On Throttle and Stick controls.
The aircraft has the capabilities to be used as a ground attack aircraft or for air defence. The Hawk AJT has excellent flying characteristics with good stability and can be flown at night in addition to performing a wide range of aerobatic maneuvers.
The aircraft can accommodate a wide variety of external stores. It has seven hard points to carry external stores with a possible 12 types of combinations to carry the stores. Production program of 42 Hawks to IAF was concluded in 2011-12. Further, the second contract was signed between IAF and HAL on July 23, 2010 for supply of 40 Hawk AJT and associated equipment. HAL has so far produced 21 aircraft and would be producing all the 40 aircraft by 2016-17.
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. (UNI)
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel