Article Posted on : - Apr 23, 2010

An IAF BAE Systems Hawk 132

NEW DELHI, (PTI): Shortcomings in equipment and mismatch in raw material supplied by British BAE Systems to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for building Hawk trainer jets have delayed delivery of the aircraft to the IAF, government has said.

Under a 2004 agreement for 66 Hawk Advanced Trainer Jets (AJTs), 24 aircraft were to be built in Britain and the rest were to be manufactured in India between 2007-08 to 2010-11. Of the 42, six were to be built form semi-knocked down (SKD) and completely-knocked down kits (CKD) and 36 were to be built from raw-material phase.

"The CKD and SKD kits were assembled on schedule. When production in raw material phase was taken up, it was found that the equipment supplied by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) had various shortcomings," Minister of State for Defence, M M Pallam Raju, said in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha query.

He added the assembly jigs supplied by BAE also did not meet the requirements and "there was mismatch in the kits and components supplied, there were defects in major assemblies like the wing spar etc. These problems took time to overcome and hence affected the production schedule at HAL."

Raju said HAL has till now manufactured 12 aircraft in the last two years including one from raw material phase.

He said the Air Force was not facing any acute shortage of trained pilots and the delay in delivery schedule of AJTs by HAL is not affecting it.

"Indian Air Force is meeting its requirement by utilising the existing resources for training of pilots," the Minister added.