India's Airpower Ambitions Face a Training Bottleneck

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has embraced synthetic training to expand pilot production, but delays in trainer aircraft programmes continue to constrain its ability to generate aircrew for future force expansion.

One of the largest recapitalisation programmes in the IAF’s history is currently underway, with the planned introduction of several hundred new fighters, transports, helicopters and unmanned platforms over the coming decade. This will create a dramatic increase in demand for trained pilots and aircrew, as squadrons operating the new types will require a steady supply of trained personnel to bring them into service as quickly as possible.

According to IAF officials, the service has nearly doubled its pilot trainee intake in recent years as it prepares for future fleet expansion. Over the last ten years, the Air Force has revamped its aircrew training syllabi with enhanced use of synthetic training devices. However, even as the IAF has expanded its pilot training capacity significantly in recent years, historical shortages have continued to affect overall availability.

Training Throughput

According to India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) figures, in the five year period from 2016 to 2021, the Air Force’s annual intake of trainee pilots ranged between 158 and 204 trainees, as against the planned initial intake of 222 trainees annually. This resulted in the pilot shortfall increasing from 486 to 596.

According to the MoD, the shortfall is expected to be eliminated by January 2030, according to the 2024 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Training of Pilots in the IAF. It should also be noted that over a decade ago, the IAF was proposing an  increase to its annual intake from 260 to 350 pilots every year by 2017.

Since 2017, the IAF has also provided additional ab-initio training slots to the army, air force, central armed police forces (CAPF) and friendly foreign countries (FFC) as has previously been done for transport-aircraft training.

Fleet Renewal

One of the principal obstacles to expanding pilot training capacity is the repeated procurement and developmental delays related to training aircraft.

According to available information, the MoD in March 2023 had stated that moves were underway to procure 296 trainer aircraft, which would have provided sufficient training capacity through 2036. However, the IAF’s training fleet is approximately half that number at present. The IAF has a sanctioned requirement for 181 basic trainer aircraft, which is currently met with a fleet of 74 Pilatus PC-7 MKII aircraft. Deliveries of 70 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) HTT-40 trainers ordered in March 2023 are yet to begin.

HAL received Government approval in July 1999 to begin development of a new intermediate jet trainer (IJT) to replace the 1970s vintage Kiran Mk I/IA IJTs. The HJT-36 ‘Sitara’ programme stalled in 2016, the same year the new type was slated to begin replacing the Kiran fleet. In 2025, HAL unveiled a modernised variant renamed as ‘Yashas’ and the Air Force has requested four aircraft on lease, for evaluation of the type’s suitability to meet its future training needs.

centred around a Display Mission Computer (DMC) of UK origin. “There is total dependency on the OEM for integration of new sub-systems or modification for additional functionalities in the existing system,” a HAL official told Halldale.

The airframer proactively initiated a Hawk Mk.132  avionics upgrade using indigenously developed systems and the resulting Hawk-i technology demonstrator flew for the first time in 2017.

HAL had earlier submitted a proposal for the avionics upgrade of Hawk aircraft, which would involve the modernisation of a sizeable number of aircraft presently flying with the IAF.

Synthetic Environment

While the Air Force’s trainer aircraft shortages are unlikely to be resolved in the near-to-medium term, it has increasingly turned to synthetic training environments to improve training efficiency, reduce flying-hour requirements and better align training and operational flying.

The induction of the new HTT-40 basic trainer is now expected to begin during 2026-27 and HAL is to also deliver several synthetic training aids. Approximately 30% of HTT-40 training tasks are to be met through synthetic training using a Fixed Base Full Mission Simulator (FBFMS), Cockpit Procedure Trainer (CPT) and Avionics Part Task Trainers (APTT). The IAF had earlier acquired two FBFMS, three CPTs and one APTT for its PC-7 MKII fleet.

HAL is also engaged in the design and development of modern Full Mission Simulators and Part Task Trainers (avionics PTT/cockpit PTT) for both fixed and rotary wing aircraft. HAL has also been commissioned to undertake an Air Combat Simulator Upgrade (ACSU) at AF Station, Hindan and is also developing Full Motion Full Mission Simulators (FMFMS) and Task Trainers for the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH).

Most recently, in May 2026, the IAF commissioned a new Jaguar Fixed Based Full Mission Simulator (FBFMS) for the Display Attack Ranging Inertial Navigation (DARIN)-III variant at Air Force Station (AFS) Gorakhpur. Two such simulators were ordered under a November 2021 contract with the first FBFMS installed at AFS Jamnagar.

The IAF’s growing reliance on synthetic training has improved training efficiency while helping to preserve its limited aircraft training fleet. However, the timely delivery of the new HTT-40 basic trainers, the outcome of air force evaluation of the Yashas IJT and the modernisation of the Hawk fleet will ultimately determine how quickly the IAF can expand pilot production. As the service embarks on a major recapitalisation effort, generating sufficient aircrew could prove as challenging as acquiring the aircraft themselves.