Bengaluru: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was all praise for the team of young engineers of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) who designed and manufactured Hindustan Turbo Trainer (HTT-40) after watching the basic trainer aircraft’s inaugural flight on Friday.
The aircraft would be used for the first stage training by all flying cadets of the three services, with the IAF set to procure 70 of them, according to HAL’s chairman and managing director T Suvarna Raju. Mr Parrikar told the media: “I had interacted with the young team earlier. When I met them last year, they showed me a presentation and I was convinced that they would deliver. In fact the aircraft first flew ahead of schedule (May 31, 2016). I am happy. As per the current plan, the production should start in 2018. The indigenous content of HTT-40 is very high and close to 80 per cent. The IAF is very keen on this aircraft and they have given full backing. Let's not dig into the past and talk about what happened earlier,” he added.
The minister indicated that orders for HTT-40 could go up to 200 in future depending upon the demand from various users.
