Bengaluru, Sept. 15 -- India's basic trainer aircraft programme, crucial for training rookie pilots, is on the verge of a milestone as aircraft maker Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is preparing to conduct the maiden flight of the country's first series production Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 (HTT-40) plane and racing to meet a longstanding need of the air force, officials aware of the matter said on Sunday. The first flight of the mass production aircraft will take place in two weeks, the development coming after two HTT-40 prototypes were flight-tested for more than 900 hours over nine years before HAL reached series production of the platform that will serve as a stepping stone for pilots to develop critical flying skills, the officials said, asking not to be named. HAL hopes to deliver the first HTT-40, powered by Honeywell's TPE331-12B turboprop engine, to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in January 2026 and 11 more before the financial year ends under a Rs.6,838-crore contract signed two years ago with the government for 70 locally made basic trainer aircraft. "The first flight of the series production aircraft is planned for September-end. It will fly with a 'Category B' (used) engine that powered one of the prototypes as the supply of engines by Honeywell is a bit delayed. The firm, like many others, is wrestling with supply chain bottlenecks," one of the officials said. Honeywell was supposed to deliver the first engine in September under a $100-million contract signed three years ago for the supply and manufacture of 88 TPE331-12B engines/kits to power the HTT-40s to boost the initial training of IAF pilots. The US firm will supply 32 units and the rest will be built by HAL through technology transfer. Honeywell has told HAL it will deliver the first engine in November and at least six more before March 31, 2026, with further deliveries at the rate of two units every month, said a second official. The state-run plane maker has asked the US firm to try and deliver more engines so that it can supply 12 basic trainers to IAF this financial year as required under 70-aircraft contract. The first HTT-40 was to be delivered to IAF in September. HAL can produce a total of 20 HTT-40s a year at its factories in Bengaluru and Nashik. The tandem seat HTT-40 has an air-conditioned cockpit, modern avionics, hot refuelling capability (refuelling with the engine running on the ground), and zero-zero ejection seats (for safe ejection at low speeds and low heights). The HTT-40 currently has a local content of 56%, which will progressively be increased to more than 60% through further indigenisation of major components and subsystems. Currently, ab initio (Stage-I) flying training of all rookie pilots is carried out on Swiss-origin Pilatus PC-7 MkII basic trainers. Stage-I training is common for all pilots after which trifurcation into fighter, transport and helicopter streams takes place. Those selected for the fighter stream proceed for Stage-II training on PC-7 MkII and Kiran Mk-1A jet trainers and then Stage-III on the British-origin Hawk jet trainers before they can fly supersonic fighter planes....