Official RFP for the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd HTT-40
On 4 February 2021, during the second day of the Aero India trade show and exhibition, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) received the Request for Proposal (RFP) from the Bharatiya Vayu Sena (Indian Air Force) regarding the acquisition of the Hindustan Turbo Trainer HTT-40 to fulfil the air arm’s basic trainer requirements.
The RFP is for an initial order of 70 HTT-40 basic trainer aircraft and features an option for an additional 38 aircraft. If contracted, the production of up to 108 HTT-40s for the Indian Air Force would take place at HAL’s manufacturing facilities in Bengaluru and Nashik.
A press release from the Indian government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) noted that the RFP has come less than six years after the HTT-40 completed its first flight.
Scramble Magazine has written earlier on the HTT-40, so we will take you back in history. On 31 May 2016, three months after the first prototype was unveiled on 2 February 2016, the Hindustan Turbo Trainer HTT-40, a basic trainer aircraft, took to the skies for the first time from HAL Bengaluru airport. The aircraft is powered by a Honeywell TPE331-12B turboprop engine and draws its design inspiration from the Beechcraft T-6 Texan II. In 2016, the Indian Air Force expected to procure 68 HTT-40 aircraft.
In November 2018, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved the purchase of seventy HTT-40s for the Indian Air Force. The trainer will join the current fleet of 75 Pilatus PC-7 Mk.IIs based at Dundigal AFS with the Training Command. Earlier, the HTT-40 had been rejected by the air force which opted for the Pilatus PC-7. In the second half of 2018, HAL’s Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC) conducted extensive wind tunnel tests and analysed mathematical models to arrive at the requirements of the spin test.
On 11 August 2020, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved the procurement of defence equipment for an approximate cost of USD 2 billion, including 106 Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) HTT-40 basic trainer aircraft. The certification process was reported as well underway for the new trainer. It was also reported that 70 HTT-40s will be procured and a second group of, at that moment, 36 aircraft will be procured after operationalisation of the HTT-40.
This will definitely mean that no further Pilatus PC-7 trainer aircraft will be procured. In August 2019 we reported on the investigating of the Swiss company Pilatus for corruption allegations and the subsequent ban on all Indian dealings with Pilatus for at least a year. HAL reported that the additional requirement of 36 basic training aircraft could be added to the already committed order for 70 HTT-40s. According to HAL, the cost per aircraft would be lowered further when the total number was to exceed 100 aircraft. The Indian Air Force however painted a grim picture for its trainer aircraft fleet last year. It pointed out that efforts to develop a basic trainer under the HTT-40 programme was running five years behind schedule and they even expected that HAL's trainer was unlikely to even be certified for flight by 2021. Although the certification process for the HTT-40 was not finished yet, the decision to buy "Make in India only" was very positive news for Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
All the above resulted now in Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) receiving the Request for Proposal (RFP). We will see how fast developments will go further from now on.
Photo: Defence Decode (Twitter)