The purchase of 70 HTT-40 Basic Trainer Aircraft from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has been approved by the Union Cabinet. The cost of the procurement is INR 6,828.36 crore, with all 70 aircraft to be inducted into the Indian Air Force, which already operates a fleet of 75 Swiss PC-7 MKII basic trainers.
HAL is to complete deliveries within six years of receiving the formal contract for the aircraft. It also supplies the associated support equipment and the simulators needed. According to the Ministry of Defence, the HTT-40 features an indigenous content of approximately 56%, which will progressively increase to over 60% over the life of the programme through the indigenisation of major components and subsystems.
The procurement has the potential to provide direct employment to about 1,500 personnel and indirect employment for up to 3,000 people spread over more than 100 MSMEs. HAL had signed a contract with Honeywell worth over INR 800 crore in July 2022 for 88 TPE331-12B engines/kits, along with maintenance and support services to power the HTT-40.
The HTT-40 aircraft will be based at the Air Force Academy in Dundigal and help remedy the shortage of basic trainer aircraft for the air force, which it will use to train newly inducted pilots. The aircraft is a fully aerobatic tandem-seat turbo trainer with an air-conditioned cockpit, modern avionics and zero-zero ejection seats.
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