MoD to use Swiss jets for pilot training

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At a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence on Monday, a reference was made to the Deccan Chronicle reports on the acute shortage of basic trainer aircraft and the consequent drastic cutdown in flying training hours of rookie pilots in the Indian Air Force.

Defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma was reportedly confronted by members of the defence panel, comprising the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) about the delay in the procurement of the much-needed Pilatus PC-7 made in Switzerland. The delay, they said, had continued, despite repeated representations by the Indian Air Force. The defence secretary gave a deadline of 2014 for the induction of the Pilatus PC-7 aircraft.

According to sources, on being quizzed about the drastic cutdown to 25 hours from the previous 150 hours for the stage-1 training of rookie pilots, the ministry of defence gave an assurance that starting from the CCS nod to the IAF proposal on the procurement and induction of the Pilatus PC-7 aircraft, a complete training programme would be back on track within three years. The defence secretary said that in order to expedite the replacement of HPT-32 basic trainers in the IAF, fliers training rookie pilots would be sent abroad for training. He said this would speed up the training process.

A recent Public Accounts Committee report tabled in Parliament on the “training of pilots in the Indian Air Force” expressed its concern over the cutdown in the basic flying training hours to 25 from 75. Members of the defence panel were reportedly shocked at the extent of the cutdown, which was 1/6th of the initial 150 hours at the Air Force Academy (AFA), Dundigal, Hyderabad.

The ministry of defence was questioned about the logic behind getting advanced jet trainers when there was an acute shortage of basic trainer aircraft, with pilots being trained on “obsolete and ageing” aircraft. After this, an assurance was apparently given on the procurement and training of instructors on the Pilatus PC-7. This was shared by the the Union minister of state for defence, Dr Pallam Raju with the panel.