RFP for trainers after consistent IAF pressure

the manufacturers have submitted the bids to sell 75 trainer aircrafts a unit to India and once a decision is made, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) will float a bid for the design of 104 aircrafts.

The Ministry of Defence had issued the Request for Proposal (RFP) to acquire 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 (KAI) and a pre-bid meeting was held on 02 February. Top brass of the IAF told 8ak that even though the bids have been submitted it would take a year for the entire process to materialise if all goes 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. Sources told 8ak that it was a very difficult task to convince the government to buy new trainer aircrafts for the IAF and the process could only be initiated after playing hardball with the government. The urgency to acquire new trainers was felt 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. The induction of new trainer aircraft 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.

The Korean submission in this bid is a result of their successful offset policy from which India has a lot to learn. However, last year there was bad blood between the offset partner Lockheed Martin and KAI over losing a trainer tender in the UAE. As per this article, KAI apparently accused Lockheed of not providing it the support required during the bidding process.