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Interestingly, the last aircraft, HT001, was actually the first IAF Hawk to be built and served as a flight test platform for three years proving ground for the integration of new systems.
Several IAF flying instructors were trained on HT001. While 24 Hawk AJTs were inducted through direct supply from abroad, 42 will be manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). The HAL-made Hawks are likely to be supplied to the IAF from next year.
Though the need for an AJT was first articulated by the IAF in 1982, the Rs 8000-crore contract was signed between the IAF and the BAE Systems in 2004. The first two aircraft arrived in Bidar on November 12, 2007. Last year, the first Hawk had crashed near Bidar raising doubts about the quality of some instruments in the AJT.