Bangalore, Aug 17 - The much-awaited flight evaluation trials of the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) that are vying for an Indian Air Force (IAF) order for 126 jets began here Monday with a pair of Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets - one of the six contenders - flying two sorties, an official said.

'Two Super Hornets flew twice for around 45 minutes from the (state-run) HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd) airport, once in the morning around 10 a.m. and again in the afternoon,' a senior official of the air traffic control (ATC) told IANS.

The official, however, declined to reveal who piloted the twin-seater aircraft or reveal details of the flight operations, including ground tests. Boeing has taken the aircraft on lease from the US Air Force for the trials.

'We treat movement of any aircraft as routine. I can only say both the Super Hornets took off from our airport and landed safely after their sorties,' the ATC official said, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The other aircraft in the fray for the IAF's $10 billion order are the Lockheed Martin F-16I Super Viper, the Dassault Rafale, the Saab Gripen, the Russian MiG-35, and the European consortium EADS Eurofighter Typhoon.

The IAF declined to comment on the day's trials.

'We have no information about the trials. You have to check with the bidding firms. We will, however, inform the media about the trials when we have the details,' an IAF spokesman told IANS from New Delhi.

'The trials have just begun. It is too early to comment or share details about the manouvres, envelope, speed, altitude and other flight details,' an IAF source said, declining to be named.

According to the source, the fighters were flown by Boeing test pilots with IAF test pilots as co-pilots.