as scheduled the first batch of IAF pilots are about to start Hawk
training in UK
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/748986.cms
RAF VALLEY (UK): Very soon, bright-eyed rookie pilots of the IAF will take to the skies here to learn the basics of tactical and combat flying. The aim: to turn them into “top-gun” pilots capable of handling even the highly-unforgiving MiG-21s with effortless ease.
Seventy-five Indian pilots will be coached in batches, from July 5 onwards, at this top-notch Royal Air Force flying training school located in north-west Wales over the next 42 months.
“Each trainee will fly 110 hours on the ‘Hawk’ AJTs (advanced jet trainers), along with 60 hours on simulators…they will value their time here,” proclaims the Station Commander, Group Captain Mark Green.
This training programme is part of the contracts worth 795 million pounds (around Rs 6,640 crore), signed in March, for procurement of 24 ‘Hawk-115Y’ AJTs in ‘a flyaway condition’ from British Aerospace Systems and licensed production of 42 more in Bangalore. The ‘Hawks’, incidentally, will begin arriving in India around 35 months from now.
This RAF base, the “busiest” airfield in UK with 67 ‘Hawks’, is meanwhile eagerly awaiting the first Indian batch. As a prelude, India’s chief of air staff Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy will be here on June 30 to inaugurate a new building for the Indian pilots.
“There will be four batches of six pilots every year. We have a professional environment here since we train all fast-jet pilots in UK…the Indians will have to fit into it. We have tailored our syllabus to meet IAF requirements,” says Green.
Well, the IAF pilots will certainly have to pull up their socks to realise their dream of flying faster than the speed of sound. The no-nonsense training programme will see them jostling with briefings, practice manoeuvres, flight simulation and combat training round-the-clock. “Every Indian pilot will get a laptop and their progress will be closely tracked,” says an RAF instructor.
The pilots will first undergo an intensive course at the Hawk Synthetic Training Facility here. By the time they go through all procedures, they would have practised every sortie, every combat drill they will eventually perform in the air.
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