Beauty in symmetry, of streamlined shapes, against the serenity of the blue of skies.
One of the most well-regarded Aerial Demo acts out there, the Indian Air Force [IAF] Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team [SKAT] has been performing with the BAE Systems Hawk Mk. 132 aircraft since the last couple of years. India, with it's current induction plan of 160 aircraft would become the world's largest operator of these British Aircraft, seeing service with, both, the Navy, as well as the Air Force.
It isn't the first time, though, that India would have, in it's inventory, more airframes than in the fleet of it's country of origin. In the 50s, it decided to acquire what, then, was a still under-development British Aircraft, the Folland Gnat, built originally for the NATO's NBMR-1 competition for the supply of a common Light Weight Strike Fighter. In fact, during development, The Folland Aircraft Company sent over a prototype for tropical trials, notching 60 hours of flying time over Indian skies.
"The importance of the tropical trials lies in the fact that not only will the trials determine the performance of the aircraft under tropical conditions but represents the very first serious attempt at flight testing of prototype aircraft in India. Experience gained during the tropical trials will be of great benefit in the setting up of a proper flight testing establishment in India…..….A team of Air Force officers and technicians have been trained at the Flight Test Department of the Folland Aircraft Company in the U.K. for the conduct of these trials. A Gnat Mk. I aircraft has been instrumented for this purpose at Follands and service officers have been associated with the installation of the test equipment. A small flight test laboratory has been constructed at the Aircraft and Armament Testing Unit."
What first began with an induction of 13 aircraft flown directly from the UK, rose to 300 in various variants, most being license manufactured in India at the facilities of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited [HAL]. While it's role in Britain was restricted to use as a Trainer & it's Aerobatics team, the RAF Red Arrows - it's 1st aircraft, the IAF airframes operated plenty in anger during the 1965 War against pakistan, where it earned the well-deserved sobriquet 'Sabre Slayer'. Happy with the aircraft's battlefield performance, plus the ToT it paid for during the Folland's dying days, India decided on enhancing it's war-fighting capability, reliability & pilot survivability. The HAL-lead effort resulted in the Ajeet Aircraft, also called Gnat Mk. II. Primary enhancements included doubling it's armament carrying capability with the incorporation of 2 additional Hardpoints, increasing internal fuel capacity via Wet Wings & fitting it with the Martin-Baker Mk.4 Ejection Seat. Improvements were also made to improve reliability of it's Hydraulic Control systems. A fine write-up of the Gnat Mk. I & II can be read at the TEAM-BHP forum.
With the Hawks, it is becoming a case of history repeating itself. Already more Hawks sport IAF Fin Flash than RAF. HAL license produces them here. With an eye on being up to the task when the IAF gives the call, HAL has embarked on a programme to develop, what it calls the Hawk-I platform. Currently, an in-house, self-funded project, being proven on the 100th Airframe it built - HAL 100, it would be offered to the IAF as a potent upgrade option.
A major objective of the Hawk-I upgrade programme is to make them more combat-capable. Some informative posts on the Livefist gives a fair lowdown of the programme. Ability to fire MBDA's Advanced Short Range Air to Air Missile [ASRAAM], that the IAF is inducting, along with the Air to Ground Brimstone Missile, that the IAF is not inducting, but has evinced interest in inducting, could see integration with the aircraft. The indigenous Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon [SAAW] stand-off bomb is another armament whose firing capability is sought to be formalised.
On the HAL 100, it has also demonstrated flight with it's own Real Time Operating System [RTOS], running on an indigenous Mission Computer under-development. In addition, "The updated aircraft features an indigenously developed mission computer and introduces a digital map generation system. An embedded virtual training system, secure voice communications1 and data link capability have also been incorporated". The Central Science Instrument Organisation [CSIO] has designed a Pilot Display Unit [PDU] for the Hawk, that also adds another layer of redundancy to the system,
"In the eventuality of mission computer failure, PDU has dedicated information which can be displayed to the pilot in stand-by-sight mode".
A parallel, overlapping attempt to enhance the Hawk, through a joint-effort between BAE & HAL, referred to as the Dream Hawk, or the Advanced Combat Hawk, has got scuttled owing to allegations of malfeasance.
As awesome as their performances are visually, complete objectives of a country's Demonstration Team is fulfilled when flying an aircraft developed in the country. It achieves the dual purpose of entertaining, inspiring onlookers, while flight manoeuvres serve as an endorsement of the aircraft's capability, helping further National Interest - both Business & Strategic. The SKAT enthralling crowds in their LCA Tejas, hell yeah!
1 = In Vayu Aerospace & Defence Review, VI/2019, VACS on HAL’s Hawk-I
"The HAL-built Hawk-I has been integrated with indigenous Voice Activated Command System (VACS) making its first sortie on 26 July, 2019, being the first indigenous Artificial Intelligence based system to be integrated on a military aircraft in the country. The VACS, designed and developed by the SLRDC is a Speech Recognition System which recognises pilot voice commands and sends the recognised commands to the Mission Computer for required action."
Note: These mesmerising Surya Kiran photos were found on few image-hosting websites. Couldn't trace the legit owner to Hat Tip. If you are the one who has shot them, kindly drop an e-mail: mailspansen AT G00gle. Would be happy to add an acknowledge.
Godspeed