India, Oct. 21 -- Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has handed over the first three HTT-40 basic trainer aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF), but full-fledged training operations may take up to two years to begin as the service builds up its pool of trained instructors and receives more aircraft, officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday.

The delivery of the first HTT-40 basic trainer in Bengaluru on September 18 marked a milestone in the indigenous programme, but the IAF will deploy them for training rookie pilots at the Air Force Academy near Hyderabad only after building a fleet of 25-30 aircraft and training enough flying instructors for the role, the officials said, asking not to be named.

"The HTT-40 trainers will initi...