Page 22 - ADT JUNE - JULY 2021 Online Magazine

Lease Approval and finally the Cabinet Committee of Security,” [ AIR SYSTEMS ]
The RFI specifies that the air force needs a trainer that can under- a defence ministry official said.
take four to six sorties a day for intensive training of pilots. The
selected company will have to maintain the aircraft during the The Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020
duration of service and provide a simulator for pilots as well. The defines leasing as a ‘means to possess and
BTA will be used for imparting ab-initio training to pilots in IAF. The operate asset without owning the asset’ and
aircraft will be operated for military training purpose from an IAF says it provides a useful way ‘to substitute
base and will be for an initial period of three to four years extend- huge initial capital outlays with periodical rental
able in batches of two years. payments.’ DAP 2020 permits leasing in two
categories: Lease (Indian), the preferred cat-
The proposal to lease aircraft to meet immediate requirements egory, where the lessor is an Indian entity and
arise as the current fleet of Pilatus PC 7 basic trainer aircraft are owns the asset; and lease (global), which refers
facing serviceability issues. This is the first time that IAF has opted to lease of equipment from foreign or Indian
for leasing aircraft for training as it helps surpass long procurement lessor.
process that moves at a snail’s pace.
Pilot Shortage
The IAF is also leasing one Airbus 330 MRTT for training purpose The Indian Air Force is also facing an acute
while eyeing further lease of five more refuellers currently with shortage of pilots. Recently, the government
France through the proper acquisition route. India has also decided contended that the number of pilots in the
to lease two Predator MQ9 drones before acquiring 30 of these Indian Air Force at present is 3,834 as against
armed UAVs, 10 each for three services. “While the leasing pro- the sanctioned strength of 4,239, a shortage
cess allows the armed forces to train on a platform that it plans to of 405 pilots. According to Junior Defence
acquire, it also short-circuits the labyrinth of acquisition process like Minister Shripad Naik 260 aircraft are being
acceptance of necessity, request for information, request for pro- used for training pilots in the force. The induc-
posal, defence acquisition committee, finance ministry approvals tion of more trainer aircraft is expected to
increase the efficiency in pilot training and
better operational capabilities for the IAF, he
added.

The Indian Air Force currently operates approx-
imately 260 trainer aircraft, which include
Pilatus PC-7 Mk-II, Kiran MkI/IA, and Hawk
Mk-132 advanced jet trainer, according to the
Defense Ministry. Rookie pilots in IAF go through
a three-stage training involving the Pilatus PC-7
MkII aircraft, Kiran trainers and finally the Hawk
advanced jet trainers before they can fly fighter
jets. As the Kiran’s are approaching the end
of their service life, some amount of Stage II
training is being done on the PC-7.

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