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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Purchase of 38 Pilatus trainer aircraft from Switzerland cleared
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Purchase of 38 Pilatus trainer aircraft from Switzerland cleared

Govt also nominates state-run Goa Shipyard to manufacture 12 mine counter-measure vessels for Rs32,000 cr

A panel chaired by defence minister Manohar Parrikar decided to seek more information on the proposal to buy at least 15 US-2i amphibious aircraft from Japan. Photo: Mint (Mint)Premium
A panel chaired by defence minister Manohar Parrikar decided to seek more information on the proposal to buy at least 15 US-2i amphibious aircraft from Japan. Photo: Mint
(Mint)

New Delhi: The government on Saturday cleared the purchase of 38 additional Pilatus basic trainer aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) from Switzerland and nominated state-run Goa Shipyard to manufacture 12 mine counter-measure vessels (MCMVs) for 32,000 crore.

It also decided that future requirements of the trainer aircraft would be met by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) which would be given adequate orders for its HTT-40 plane to be commercially viable. The defence acquisition council, which met on Saturday, also okayed the purchase of a C-130J Super Hercules aircraft for the IAF to replace the one which had crashed in March last year killing five service personnel, including four officers, near Gwalior.

Chaired by defence minister Manohar Parrikar, the defence acquisition council (DAC) decided to seek more information on the proposal to purchase at least 15 US-2i amphibious aircraft from Japan. No decision was taken on the bid by Airbus-Tata consortium to replace the ageing Avro transport aircraft fleet of the IAF. The major decision taken today was regarding the Pilatus aircraft. The council decided to go in for the option clause in the deal that was originally signed in 2012.

The original contract for 75 aircraft had the option clause of buying 50% under same terms and conditions for three years. This option clause runs out in May and hence the Council decided to go in for that. The force has so far inducted 59 PC-7 aircraft. The IAF had calculated a requirement of 181 basic trainer aircraft (BTA) out of which 90 were supposed to be bought off the shelf and 91 made in India. However, the UPA government decided to go for a 75 aircraft contract with a 50% follow-on clause.

“The remaining requirement will be met by the HAL which will supply its indigenously developed HTT-40. Adequate orders will be given to the HAL to make the development commercially viable," people in the defence establishment familiar with the matter said. They said that the progress of this project will be monitored by a committee and it will periodically submit its report to the DAC.

Another big project was the one involving MCMVs (mine countermeasure vessels). The defence ministry had in November last year scrapped the 2,700-crore deal for acquiring two minesweeper vehicles from a South Korean firm after it was found that there were violations of tender conditions as agents were in the play. Under the deal, the South Korean firm was to build two ships while the remaining six were to be manufactured by Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) under the transfer of technology pact.

The DAC has now nominated GSL to build 12 MCMVs under a project that will cost 32,000 crore, people in the defence establishment familiar with the matter said. They underlined that GSL, which has already invested about 500 crore in setting up infrastructure for this order, will lead the path and tie-up with a foreign firm if needed.

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Published: 28 Feb 2015, 07:39 PM IST
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