Notwithstanding the recent inclusion of the Pilatus basic trainer, flight training of Indian Air Force will continue to suffer as it is set to lose its Kiran intermediate jet trainer with no replacement in sight. Rookie pilots in the Air Force have been trained on Kiran Mk 1/1A aircraft since 2009 after the grounding of HPT‐32 basic trainer fleet. Before the switch, Kiran was used for stage‐II training at the IAF academy, Dundigal. Now, IAF has a brand new basic trainer. But it is in no position to go back to its old training schedule of Stage‐I and II flying in the absence of an intermediate jet trainer (IJT), which is being built by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the last 14 years. As Kirans are slated to be phased out in 2014 with IJT nowhere on the horizon, the Defence Ministry and IAF recently informed a Parliamentary panel they did not have a contingency plan in place for intermediate training. This raises the possibility of having a void in intermediate jet training in the same manner as was seen in the basic training.
Source: Deccan Herald
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