A team of three pilots of the Indian Air Force, led by a squadron leader-level officer, will leave for the UK to train young pilots in the Royal Air Force.Sources said the IAF team will be going to the UK over the next 10 days and will be stationed at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Valley in Wales—the training base for British jet pilots. The three will join as Qualified Flying Instructors (QFIs), and this marks the first time that Indian QFIs will impart training to British pilots at the RAF Valley. The deployment will be initially for a period of two years. Indian Air Force instructors will instruct on the BAE Hawk T2 aircraft. The IAF uses the jet for the final training module of its fighter pilots. The Royal Air Force also flies the Hawk trainer jets. These are the final steps for trainee pilots before they graduate onto mainstream, or heavier and faster, jets. The move for Indian pilots to train their counterparts in the UK comes almost a century after the British set up a rudimentary air force in colonial India in 1932.The two countries had decided on sending the IAF pilots in February after both sides agreed to enhance military training engagements following the conclusion of the 19th UK-India Air Staff Talks in New Delhi.During their tenure, the Indian QFIs will remain under the IAF command while working for the RAF commanders on instructional duties. Separate from the operational training by three Indian QFIs, three British military academies host Indian officers as instructors from respective services. In January, an Indian Air Force officer was posted as an instructor to the Royal Air Force College Cranwell—the air academy that trains the next generation of RAF officers.