Bengaluru, Sep 17 (IANS) Government-owned aerospace giant Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will hand over Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas final operational clearance twin-seater trainers and HTT-40 Basic Trainer Aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Dhruv Next Generation (NG) helicopters to Pawan Hans Limited (PHL) on Friday.
The handover, which marks an important milestone in the country’s self-reliance journey, will take place in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu here.
The event will highlight the role being played by HAL and its industry partners in strengthening the domestic aerospace ecosystem. It will also demonstrate the industry’s expanding capability to design, develop, and manufacture advanced platforms for both civil and military applications.
IAF chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, Secretary, Defence Production, Sanjeev Kumar, Secretary, Civil Aviation, Samir Kumar Sinha, HAL CMD Ravi K., and other senior officials of the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Indian Air Force, Pawan Hans Ltd, regulatory agencies and stakeholders from the aerospace and defence sectors will be present on the occasion.
The government has accorded high priority to promoting indigenous design, development and manufacturing in the aerospace and defence sectors. The induction of these platforms is another step towards strengthening the indigenous capabilities and reducing dependence on foreign sources, the statement said.
The Hindustan Turbo Trainer (HTT)-40 is a foundational trainer aircraft designed to meet primary training requirements. This fully aerobatic tandem-seat turbo trainer has an air-conditioned cockpit, modern avionics, hot refuelling, quick pilot changeover and zero-zero ejection seats. Built around a proven turboprop engine, this aircraft is designed to have good low-speed handling qualities for better training effectiveness.
The aircraft is fitted with a glass cockpit and indigenously developed avionics, including radio communication, standby communication, VOR-ILS, TACAN, radio altimeter, and Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) and Integrated Standby Instrument System (ISIS). The HTT-40 is powered by a Honeywell TPE331-12B Turboprop engine.
–IANS
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