Defence Ministry issues RFP for 75 basic trainer aircraft

02 Feb 2010 8ak: The defence ministry has issued Request for Proposal (RFP) for acquiring 75 basic aircrafts for the IAF to a dozen global aircraft manufacturers. The manufacturers include global turboprop aircraft manufacturers such as Embraer, Pilatus, Raytheon, Finmeccanica, Grob, EADS PZL and Korea Aerospace Industries. The companies are required to submit their proposals by March 17 and a pre-bid meeting was held today. 

The RFP has been issued after the IAF played hardball with the government after grounding of the 125-strong Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) designed and manufactured Hindustan Piston Trainer-32 (HPT-32) fleet, on which the initial training of flight cadets is conducted was grounded after one of these aircraft crashed killing two instructors during a flight from the Air Force Academy (AFA) at Dundigal. 

The crash triggered major resentment amongst the instructors who refused to fly the ageing aircraft. As a make shift arrangement the initial training of pilots, since then, is being done on another HAL manufactured aircraft - Kirans.  The HPT-32 fleet since then remains grounded and is expected to be phased out by 2013-14. 

Even thought the RFP has been floated, top brass of the IAF told that the entire process will take at least a year if all goes as per plan, since the entire tender process will have to be carried out, which was a very cumbersome process involving decision makers who have no knowledge of equipment or the needs of the IAF. According to the RFP the manufacturer will have to deliver the first 12 aircraft within 24 months of the contract. The remaining trainers will follow in batches. The 75 aircraft are part of the government’s go-ahead to the IAF for the acquisition of 181 basic trainers.

The induction of new trainer aircrafts will enhance the training standards of the IAF pilots, which has come under severe criticism due to increasing pilot deaths in the past two decades, resulting due to a combination of ageing Soviet era fleet and poor training. The IAF also inducted BAE systems manufactured Hawk advanced jet trainers (AJTs) in 2008 to impart superior training to pilots-under-training.

The induction of the Hawk AJTs is significant because it fulfilled a long-standing demand of the IAF that will effectively bridge the gap between the slow jet trainer such as Kiran and the advanced fighter aircrafts in the Air Force. 

Comments

[Jason Verdugo]

T-50 would be a good choice because it can be easily used as a light supersonic strike platform