IAF chief to fly sortie in 'made in India' HTT-40 trainer plane

Continuing his support for indigenous military aircraft, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria will undertake a sortie in the under-development HTT-40 trainer aircraft in Bengaluru tomorrow.

Continuing his support for indigenous military aircraft, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria will undertake a sortie in the under-development HTT-40 trainer aircraft in Bengaluru tomorrow. "The IAF Chief is in Bengaluru for taking part in a seminar and after that, he may take a sortie in the HTT-40 trainer aircraft tomorrow," IAF officials said here.

As per plans, the air chief would be flown in an HTT-40 trainer by a senior test pilot from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and he would. Bhadauria will sit in the rear cockpit. The plane is still under development by the HAL.

The IAF chief has been associated with the indigenous trainer aircraft project for a long period now as he had assured full support to it since he was the deputy chief of air staff. The Air Force also planning to order a sizeable number of these planes from the HAL for its training fleet which is using the Swiss Pilatus planes at the moment.

Now with a ban on dealing with the Swiss aircraft firm due to the corruption allegations against it, the future of the indigenous aircraft in the Air Force would be brighter. (ANI)