TIMES OF INDIA (June 4) headline: "Navy to get new squadron for trainee pilots."
Excerpt: " The Indian Navy is all set to get a new air squadron to train its carrier-based jet pilots ...The Indian Navy Air Squadron INAS-552 will be carved out of the INAS-551 which consists of Kiran jets and Sea Harriers... [T]he Defence Ministry took eight years to sanction the new squadron whose pilots were earlier sent to the UK for training. Only after the acquisition of a simulator ... has the defence ministry been able to save crores of rupees because Sea Harrier pilots are now trained at Goa. .. In the morning, screaming Sea Harriers take off from this naval base with trainee pilots ... Navy pilots [also] have to fly at night and land on pitching and rolling vessels before they are certified fit for combat duty. Once the pilots are trained they are shifted to another squadron where they see front line combat duty. This squadron called INAS-300s is also based in Goa." Comment: Training seems to involve a sequence of Kiran jets, Sea Harrier simulator, land-based Sea Harriers, and finally sea based Sea Harriers.
