The unexpected and sudden grounding of the HPT-32 basic trainer aircraft fleet, coupled with the ageing fleet of Kiran Mk-I, has snowballed into a crisis whereby the flying training of the Indian Air Force is in a limbo. In fact, amid an acute shortage of the serviceable Kiran Mk-I, the future of flying training at the Air Force Academy (AFA), Dundigal, and the advanced Fighter Training Wings at Hakimpet is in jeopardy.
Here is what has happened. Since a major technical snag and a fatal aircrash in 2009 resulting in the loss of two ace pilots, all the 114 HPT-32 planes have been grounded. To make up for the shortfall, Kiran Mk-I, till then used for advanced stage-I of basic flying training at AFA, were distributed between AFA and Hakimpet. In connection with this reshuffling, Kiran Mk-II aircraft, earlier used for stage-II training of rookie pilots at Hakimpet, were sent to Tambaram Air Force base in Tamil Nadu for the advanced training courses of flying instructors. The shortage is such that even the Surya-kirans (Kiran Mk-II) of the IAF aerobatic team has been diverted to Tambaram.
However, Kiran Mk-I in itself is an ageing aircraft and terribly “overworked”. As a result, the ratio of serviceable Kiran Mk-I aircraft available to the number of fliers is the lowest in the history of the IAF. The stress on the aircraft as well as fliers, both instructors and rookie pilots, has been noted by the Public Accounts Committee report of Parliament, which pulled up the ministry of defence for the “overuse of ageing and obsolete fleet of Kiran Mk-I for training rookie pilots”.
Going at this rate, few Kiran Mk-I aircraft will be left with the training commands at AFA and Hakimpet in another two years. In fact, the PAC has questioned the logic behind the induction of advanced jet trainers when there will be no basic trainers and thus no trained pilots to fly the planes by the time the AJTs arrive.
Crucially, even after the Cabinet Committee on Security clears the IAF proposal for acquiring the batch of 75 Pilatus PC-7 aircraft for basic training, it will not be before another three years that the first batch of the trainer aircraft are inducted. An IAF spokesperson in Bengaluru has explained that the void created by unexpected grounding of the HPT-32 fleet, the workhorse of ab initio flying training, can only be filled by the induction of the Swiss-made Pilatus.