India, UK develop combat aircraft to take on China

A combat ready aircraft has been developed by India and the United Kingdom hand will be on offer to neighbouring countries in a bid to tackle growing Chinese penetration of the defence market in the region.

The A jointly developed, dual role version of the Hawk trainer aircraft will be debuting later in February 2016 and with it, both the countries target on export markets for the versatile plane.

The aircraft known as the Advanced Hawk has been in the works for two years under a unique model with Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) and BAE pooling resources to develop a faster, more agile Hawk that can also carry smart weapons.

The aircraft is being assembled in Bengaluru for the AeroIndia show next week, has several new features including a new wing design by HAL that gives the plane more agility, extra power and the ability to carry a range of conventional and precision weapons for an operational role.

HAL said there is already considerable interest for the aircraft that will undertake its first flight in March.

"We have had good interest for the aircraft. There have been a few visits by our neighbouring air chiefs who have shown interest," HAL chairperson T Suvarna Raju told ET.