Aero India 2023: Meet HLFT-42, the aircraft that will train pilots for 5th generation fighter jets
By Vipin Vijayan | First Published Feb 13, 2023, 3:50 PM ISTThe HLFT-42 trainer, which is aimed at preparing fighter pilots comprehensively for the fifth-generation aircraft, incorporates an ultra-modern training suite, enabling hyper-real combat situations to train pilots in a perfectly safe, standardised and efficient flying environment.
With India aiming to design and develop its fighter aircraft of the future, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is preparing to meet the challenges that pilots would have to face in their next-generation aircraft. Meet the Hindustan Lead-in Fighter Trainer (HLFT-42).
Talking to Asianet Newsable during the Aero India 2023, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, Experimental Test Pilot Harsh Vardhan Thakur said: "The training of Indian pilots happens on three platforms -- the basic trainer, the intermediate trainer and the advanced trainer. So all of these teach how to fly. The basic trainer is for all kinds of pilots, including helicopter pilots. In advanced trainers, we train only fighter pilots. The advanced trainers I am talking about are the AJT or the Hawk-I of the HAL. But that trains fighter pilots to learn how to manoeuvre the aircraft; it never goes supersonic, never does any missile firing, does not have sensors, and does not have a radar or an infrared search and track (IRST) system. So on yesterday's aircraft, the real combat training never gets done. Today and tomorrow that is required. That's why we have the need for a medium fighter trainer urgently."
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According to the HAL, the HLFT-42 trainer, which is aimed at preparing fighter pilots comprehensively for the fifth generation aircraft, incorporates an ultra-modern training suite, enabling hyper-real combat situations to train pilots in a perfectly safe, standardised and efficient flying environment.
"To fill today's needs and for tomorrow's aircraft like the Light Combat Aircraft Mark II, we have to have a very high-performance trainer to go along with them. The trainer needs to have similar capabilities. As a leading fighter trainer, it is very efficiently made. It will do exactly the same task that it is supposed to. The trainer will be very similar to the fighter aircraft of the next generation," the Group Captain (Retd) said.
"It will be similar to the recently approved projects like the LCA MK II, the Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF) and eventually the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). So it (the new fighter trainer) will have to keep pace with that kind of requirement. It should have similar sensors and weapons. Obviously, the simulators and simulations should be of that capability as well," he added.
The HLFT-42's salient features include the ability to deliver superior kinetic performance suited for training for twin-engine fighters. It would also feature sustained endurance for practising multiple combat situations and exercises.
The mock-up of the Hindustan Lead-in Fighter Trainer, on display at Aero India 2023, curiously sports a Hanuman motif on its tail portion. When asked, Test Pilot Harsh Vardhan Thakur downplayed the presence of 'Pawan Putra Hanuman'.
As to when a flying prototype of the fighter trainer aircraft would be available, it can be safe to assume that it would happen around 2030, when the Indian fifth-generation aircraft is expected to take flight.
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