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The Cabinet Committee on Security’s decision to acquire the AJT finally opens the door to a crucial capability that the Indian Air Forc...

The Cabinet Committee on Security’s decision to acquire the AJT finally opens the door to a crucial capability that the Indian Air Force has been seeking for more than two decades, and which it hasn’t had for three. But while the door has been opened, the road to the destination is still a long one.

Military aircraft are not available on the shelf of a super bazaar, except when we buy those already in use somewhere else. The process of getting the full complement of aircraft could take as much as five more years although the IAF would seek interim arrangements which may include the British providing aircraft from their inventories to be replaced by newly manufactured aircraft later.

Fighter flying accidents have focused public attention on the AJT issue. But we must be clear that the AJT by itself is not a panacea. The crux of the reasons for a proper AJT has been the broader issue of better flying training for young pilots entering the fighter stream after basic and intermediate stages. This would help to reduce accidents due to errors of skill. Frontline fighters by definition are not suitable for such a role.

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The Hawk has been one of the few aircraft in the world specifically designed for this type of role and has a proven record across the world for its performance. But to draw full benefit of introducing a proper AJT, we would need to ensure that the syllabus and pattern of training is also in consonance with the LaFontaine Committee report and the central logic of its recommendations.

The syllabus recommended by the Committee, accepted by the IAF experts and top brass, and approved by the government at the highest level would have required nearly 160 aircraft in the inventory. This number was apparently cut down in the interest of economy to 103 and then to 66. But this also means cutting the flying training syllabus in half. One can only hope that the final inventory would be planned in harmony with the original figure. This would provide better economies of scale and indigenous production run and product support for the future.

We must make sure that proper infrastructure, including for the AJT training is also set up. Absence of type simulators was a major handicap in the past since no simulators had ever been designed for the MiG-21, Hunter and Vampire aircraft used for this task. What we had were procedure trainers for MiG-21s, and they have their own limitations since they cannot simulate flight conditions of an agile manoeuvrable fighter aircraft.

Hawk simulators would make a major contribution to more effective training, especially for young pilots being initiated to fighter flying. The greatest benefit of the AJT would be to enhance flying skills of fighter pilots of future at lower risk of accidents while producing better combat pilots.

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It would be foolhardy to speculate on the effect on future accidents. The impact of new training would take time to take effect and would start to be visible only after five years or more. I for one am confident that the fighter aircraft accident rate in IAF would come to about half in another 10 years.

There are other advantages of the induction of the AJT. We would no longer have to set aside a large frontline force of fighters for lead-in fighter training and they can be reverted to operational roles. The available combat ready force would then be restored to the authorised figure.

At the same time, the AJT fleet would be available for operational deployment in times of crisis. Aircraft like the Hawk would be particularly useful in the Himalayas in situations like that of the Kargil War three years ago.

(The author was the flight safety and flying training expert on the LaFontaine Committee 1982-83 which emphasised the need for proper aircraft at all stages of flying training.)