India Wants Domestic Production of Pilatus Trainers

After contracting 75 basic trainer aircraft from Pilatus in 2012, India wants to buy an additional 106 that would be license-built by a domestic company.
But domestic defense firms find the proposal uneconomical, and state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) is pushing its own homegrown basic trainer, though the Indian Air Force has already rejected it.
The request for information, described by the defense industry as the first of its kind, asks selected domestic companies if they would participate in the proposed program to build 106 Pilatus PC-7 Mark-II trainers under license in the “Buy and Make (Indian)” category, which restricts contracts to domestic defense companies and requires that at least half of the components and subsystems come from domestic sources.
Domestic companies, in turn, find the “Buy and Make (Indian )” program for Pilatus uneconomical because of the limited order. A chosen domestic company and the Swiss original equipment manufacturer would produce the trainer. However, no domestic partner has so far confirmed talking to Pilatus on the program.
HAL is also developing a homegrown trainer and is trying to block the proposed Pilatus program.
A HAL official said the basic trainer it is developing, the HTT-40, would be more advanced than the PC-7 as it will have weapon-firing capabilities and other advancements. The HTT-40 is expected to fly by 2015.
Last year, the Air Force proposed that HAL license-produce the Pilatus aircraft but HAL rejected the proposal, saying it was working on its own project.
defensenews

IAF to HAL: Build Swiss trainer aircraft, don't develop your own

Indian Air Force chief, Air Chief, has sugarcoated his bid to import 106 basic trainer aircraft from Pilatus Aircraft Co, by proposing that Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) build the trainers in Bangalore to blueprints supplied by the Swiss company.
HAL, which is designing its own basic trainer for the IAF - the Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 (HTT-40) - has flatly rejected the proposal. The company has allocated Rs 130 crore of its own money to continue developing the HTT-40, which is projected to fly by 2015.
Last year, the IAF purchased 75 PC-7 Mark II trainers for 557 million Swiss Francs . Pilatus has delivered at least 15 of those trainers.
When the purchase of 75 trainers from the global market was approved in 2009, it was decided that HAL would simultaneously design and build 106 trainers. But, in July,the IAF chief wrote to Minister, savaging HAL's proposal and recommending this order be handed to Pilatus.
business-standard

Indian Air Force wants to order another 106 PC-7 Mark II trainers

Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne has assailed Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd  which builds most of the fighter aircraft the IAF flies. Writing directly to Defence Minister  in the first week of July, Browne has savaged HAL's proposal to design and build a basic trainer aircraft (BTA) for rookie IAF pilots. Rejecting the proposal, Browne has urged Antony to import 106 PC-7 Mark II trainers from Swiss company Pilatus. These will be over and above the 75 trainers already contracted for $640 million.
business-standard

India starts first training course with new PC-7 Mk II fleet

The Indian air force has commenced training with the Pilatus PC-7 Mk II, marking the recommencement of basic training for future air force pilots.
The resumption of training involves more than 80 cadets and follows delivery of the air force's 14th PC-7 Mk II in June 2013. Pilatus has already provided training to Indian instructor pilots and maintainers on the type, which will operate from the Indian air force academy at Dundigal, Hyderabad. It also has "delivered a complete logistics support package".
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