Up and Away: India's Trainer Aircraft Makes Its First Flight

India has produced a trainer aircraft, the Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40; the plane took off for its first official flight in Bangalore on Friday.

The two-seater aircraft, which was designed and developed by the state-owned manufacturer Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), completed the flight at the company's airport.

India's Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar attended the base to witness the HTT-40 flight, which lasted about 10 to 15 minutes. He expressed his admiration for the HAL technician team. After the flight, Parrikar got into the cockpit of the trainer jet to get a closer look at it.

My congratulations to the brilliant young team of technocrats at HAL. #HTT40 pic.twitter.com/kEmGhht9zN

— Manohar Parrikar (@manoharparrikar) 17 июня 2016 г.

#MakeInIndia #HTT40 has 80% indigenous content with more than 40 Indian MSME vendors.

— Manohar Parrikar (@manoharparrikar) 17 июня 2016 г.

​Officials said the detailed design phase of the HTT-40, which HAL completed using its own funding, was launched in August 2013 and finished in May 2015. The first prototype of the trainer jet was rolled out on February 2, 2016; it completed its first test flight on May 31.

The Indian Air Force expects to receive 70 HTT-40 trainer aircrafts. The cost of the HTT-40 project stands at around 54 million dollars.