The Indian Air Force (IAF) has begun the acquisition for next generation of jet trainers and floated a tender seeking 150 such aircraft.These will be a successor to the IAF’s Hawk Mk-132 advanced jet trainers. The IAF has floated a Request for Information (RFI): the first stage of the tender process. The planes will prepare fighter pilots for the complex demands of modern air combat.The RFI mentions the planes would be ‘Stage-III’ trainers which is the final link in the training chain before pilots move to operational fighter squadrons. The jets are used to familiarise trainee pilots with airborne radars, electronic warfare systems and beyond-visual-range missiles before they graduate to frontline fighters such as the Sukhoi 30MKI, Rafale, Tejas and in the future, the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).Indian and global manufacturers can bid in the RFI. The next stage will be the Request for Proposal (RFP), in which bidders will submit technical and commercial offers against the finalised requirements.The RFP is tentatively scheduled for December 2027, with deliveries to be completed within 60 months of the effective date of the contract. Even if this schedule is maintained, the first aircraft is unlikely to reach an IAF flying training base before the mid-2030s.Foreign manufacturers, biding for the project will have to demonstrate how much of production, technology and supply chain can be brought to India.Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is the principal Indian bidder. Foreign contenders could include Leonardo’s of Italy, Korea Aerospace Industries, Boeing and the Russian Yak.Aircraft that clear the technical evaluation will undergo field trials in India before the contract is awarded to the lowest technically compliant bidder.Meanwhile, the Hawk Mk-132 entered IAF service in February 2008 and has since been the principal Stage-III trainer.At the intermediate training stage, the HJT-36, renamed Yashas at Aero India 2025, has been in development for about two decades and has undergone extensive work to address its handling characteristics.HAL’s proposed supersonic HLFT-42, showcased as a scale model at Aero India 2023 and pitched as a potential Hawk successor, is yet to reach the critical design review stage.The IAF is seeking considerably more from the new trainer than it gets from the Hawk. The RFI calls for fly-by-wire control, a glass cockpit with configurable hands-on-throttle-and-stick controls, navigation integrating the home-grown satellite system NavIC with GPS and GLONASS and zero-zero ejection seats. The aircraft is also required to be resistant to departures and capable of automatically recovering to controlled flight if the pilot releases the controls.