New Delhi: In yet another feather in its cap, State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) does it again with HTT-40 (Basic trainer aircraft) successfully completing critical six-turn spin test capability and is going to seek FOC (Final Operation Clearance). In September, it had successfully completed the right spin capability.
“All the spin behaviour of the aircraft has been textbook perfect and now the next step will be seeking FOC. The HTT-40 falls under the category of “Indian designed, developed and manufactured” (IDDM) equipment, as stated in the Defence Procurement Policy (2016). The aircraft has cleared all Air Staff Qualitative Requirements (ASQRs) as per the requirements,” top company officials said.
The company has been carrying out a series of tests of the HTT-40; the project design had started in 2013 and was supported by the internal funding of Rs 350 crore before it started preparing for spin tests in a matter of five years.
With these successful spin testing, the image and the credibility of the HAL gets a boost and also proves that the company is capable of designing a fixed-wing and spin worthy aircraft pointed out a senior executive of the company.
“So far all the Preliminary Services Qualitative Requirements (PSQR) test points have been met successfully and with the successful spin tests, the last metric has been completed. This is a critical requirement before the aircraft can be put into service,” the executive said.
Just last year, the HTT-40 Basic Trainer Aircraft had completed the two spin tests which had cleared the way for further trials of the aircraft, which has got an approval from the Defence Acquisition Council for giving 70 aircraft. However, there is still no order from the Indian Air Force (IAF) for this basic trainer – the most critical requirement it had laid down was the six-turn spin tests.
The company already has the experience of building the Hawk advanced jet trainers (AJT) for the IAF which has been done with the technology transfer from the UK based BAE Systems.
