Trainer Aircraft of IAF - PC-7, HTT-40, HJT-36, BAE Hawk
- Thread starter Ashwin
- Start date
12 airframes have already been produced (Two modified ) so induction will be quick.
India to Complete Trainer Jet Certification With Freshly Supplied Engines From Rostec
15 JULY 2021
The United Engine Corporation of Rostec supplied the Indian HAL Corporation with two AL-55I engines. They will be used for the final stage of certification tests of the Indian HJT-36 aircraft.
The United Engine Corporation completed work to increase the service life of the two supplied engines to 300 hours. During the project, the design resource of the AL-55I engine was gradually increased. The engines have been running for over 5000 hours at test stands, and passed 4500 equivalent test cycles. The established service life guarantees reliable engine operation for a given time.
”After passing successful acceptance tests at the test stands in the presence of a HAL representative, the engines were finally shipped to the client. The HJT-36 trainer aircraft project is in the final stages of flight certification tests, which should confirm that the model meets the requirements of the Indian Air Force. Power plants with increased service life will be used to complete this stage. There are also plans to increase the service life for 16 AL-55I engines already supplied to HAL Corporation at earlier stages. Significant work has already been done to organize the licensed production of AL-55I engines at HAL enterprises”, said the Deputy General Director and Chief Designer of UEC, Yury Shmotin.
AL-55I is a double-circuit turbojet engine. It is specially designed for the Indian HJT-36 trainer aircraft.
The power plant has a number of advantages: its modular design ensures high level of manufacturability and low operating cost, and its modern digital control system ensures safe piloting and ease of maintenance. The engine has a maximum thrust of 1760 kgf. Today service life of AL-55I engine upgraded to 1,200 hours.
In February this year, during the international aerospace exhibition Aero India, an Indian HJT-36 training aircraft took to the skies powered by the engine.
The AL-55I engine will also be showcased at the stand of the United Engine Corporation at the MAKS-2021 exhibition, which will be held from July 20 to 25 in Zhukovsky, near Moscow.
Even Navy requires a replacement for their Kiran's. Hopefully this local substitute ensures our independence in training fleet. BAE took us for a ride with increased costs for Hawk, a fine platform. Hopefully this will replace the reaming jet trainer requirements in IAF and IN.
Intermediate Jet Trainer has cleared a major milestone, says HAL chief
Aircraft needs another two years of testing after which it will be ready for induction, says HAL chief
Yes. Only if will pass the mandatory Moon landing tests with 20 passengers and 1000 ton fuel onboard.
Their in flexible attitude towards cost and the amount of localisation led to cancellation of follow on orders.
This limited the number of pilots IAF can train. As IAF was hoping that with few additional Hawks the shortfall of Mk1 Kiran's can be filled.
They don't have much options.
Kiran MK2 will be out. No more HAWKs are coming too.
Additional Hawks aren't coming for sure. Would be difficult for them to convince the CCS for another platform.
In between both BAe & HAL tried to get IAF interested in their iHawk but to no avail.
IAF needs the Trainer no frills version at a reasonable price. Hawk I not the solution they want, so no surprise that IAF hasn't shown any interest.
