HAL unveils indigenous basic trainer aircraft HTT-40

Bengaluru, June 17 (IANS) Public-sector aerospace and defence major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on Friday inaugurated indigenous Basic Trainer Aircraft (BTA) HTT-40 here in the presence of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

"The indigenous content on HTT-40 is close to 80 per cent. Almost 50 per cent of the components on HTT-40 are manufactured by private players of the Indian aerospace ecosystem," said Parrikar, congratulating HAL on the achievement.

He highlighted that the role of private players and nedium and small enterprises (MSMEs) has been significant in producing the parts for HTT-40 and said the Indian Air Force (IAF) is feeling positive with all these developments.

Parrikar said commercial production of the trainer aircraft can generate nearly Rs 3,000-4,000 crore. While the IAF will procure 70 HTT-40, it may also go up to 200, based on demand.

Talking about the inaugural flight demonstrated by Group Vaptains C. Subramaniam and Venugopal, HAL CMD T. Suvarna Raju described it as flawless.

"It is remarkable feat that the aircraft in its inaugural flight carried out low speed pass, a series of turns, high speed pass and short-landing using reverse thrust which is a unique feature available on this engine-propeller combination," said Raju.

He added that the project will go full throttle to get the BTA certified in 2018, to be achieved by the manufacture of three prototypes and two static test specimens.

It only took one year for the company to fly the first prototype after launching the detailed design of the aircraft by earmarking internal resources only in August 2013 and completing the detailed design phase by May 2015.

Digital Mock Up (DMU), real time systems clash analysis, laser tracking of assembly jigs, six degree of freedom, mathematical model and complete glass cockpit are among the many first initiatives of the project.

According to HAL, HTT-40 has been designed to meet the current requirement of the IAF with the provision for role expansion to attach weapons to the trainer aircraft.