New Delhi: Moving ahead with the
procurement of 75 basic trainer aircraft for the Indian Air
Force (IAF), Defence Ministry has completed negotiations with
Swiss company Pilatus, which emerged as the lowest bidder in
the USD 1 billion deal.
"The negotiations with Pilatus have already been
completed on the basis of valid commercial offer submitted by
the Swiss company," Defence Ministry officials said here.
They further added that following Defence Procurement
Policy (DPP) norms, the Contract Negotiations Committee (CNC)
report is progressing for approval by the competent financial
authority.
Besides Pilatus, US firm Hawker-Beechcraft and Korean
Aerospace Industries (KAI) from South Korea had pitched for
the deal.
The bid will fulfill IAF`s need for a basic jet
trainer after the fleet of HPT-32 basic trainers were grounded
in 2009, following an air crash which raised concerns over its
safety features.
"Presently the cadets are trained on Kiran trainer
aircraft, which are actually meant for second level of flight
training," the officials added.
PTI