Hawk fleet remains grounded as investigations enter fifth day

New Delhi: : The latest aircraft in the Indian Air Force (IAF) inventory remained on the ground for the fourth consecutive day as investigators tried to figure out the reason behind Tuesday’s downing of a Hawk fighter trainer seconds after it took off at the Bidar airbase.

IAF confirmed that the entire fleet of 10 Hawks remains on the ground, pending clearance from the air safety directorate that is investigating the crash. While it is routine for aircraft to be grounded after an accident occurs due to ‘unknown reasons’, the IAF is being extremely cautious about the investigations specially after it came to light that the newly acquired trainers have been facing serviceability issues and problems with spares.

Given the seriousness of the situation, the Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal P V Naik himself went to the Bidar airbase this week to take stock of the situation and talk with the investigating team.

While IAF hopes to resolve the issue at the earliest, there is concern that if a serious technical flaw is discovered its carefully planned training schedule can go awry.

Besides, the fleet is facing problems due to a lack of spares and the low serviceability rate (only 40 per cent) of the trainers. All these issues will come up at the annual Indo-UK defence dialogue in London on May 19. While the Defence Secretary is heading the delegation, an Air Vice Marshal rank officer from the Air Force will hold discussions with British authorities.

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