The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved procurement of 70 HTT-40 Basic Trainer Aircraft from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force at a cost of Rs 6,828.36 crore.
The aircraft will be supplied over a period of six years and the decision is expected to provide fillip to the Indian aerospace defence ecosystem and boost efforts towards ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. The HTT-40 is a turbo prop aircraft and is designed to have good low speed handling qualities and provide better training effectiveness.
The fully aerobatic tandem seat turbo trainer has air-conditioned cockpit, modern avionics, hot re-fueling, running change over and zero-zero ejection seats, a Defence Ministry release said.
The aircraft will meet the shortage of basic trainer aircraft of IAF for training of newly- inducted pilots.
The procurement will include associated equipment and training aids including simulators. Being an indigenous solution, the aircraft is configurable for upgrades to incorporate the futuristic requirements of the Indian armed forces. The HTT-40 has about 56 per cent indigenous content which will progressively increase to over 60 per cent through indigenisation of major components and subsystems.
The HAL would engage Indian private industry, including MSMEs, in its supply chain, the release said.
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.