Defence Ministry signs purchase of 70 trainer aircraft and three ships, muscling India’s military-industrial complex

In a major boost to the government’s efforts to achieve ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence, the Defence Ministry on Tuesday signed contracts with the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) for procurement of 70 HTT-40 Basic Trainer Aircraft and three Cadet Training Ships.

The Cabinet had last week approved the procurement of 70 HTT-40 trainer aircraft from HAL at a cost of over Rs 6,800 crore. The signing of contract with L&T for the acquisition of three Cadet Training Ships from L&T, worth more than Rs 3,100 crore under Buy Indian-IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured) category was also approved.

The HTT-40 is a turbo prop aircraft possessing good low-speed handling qualities and provides better training effectiveness. This fully aerobatic tandem seat turbo trainer has an air-conditioned cockpit, modern avionics, hot re-fueling, running change over and zero-zero ejection seats.

The aircraft will meet the shortage of basic trainer aircraft of Indian Air Force 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 aircraft will be supplied over a period of six years.

The HTT-40 contains approximately 56% indigenous content which will progressively increase to over 60% through indigenisation of major components and subsystems. The HAL would engage the domestic private industry, including MSMEs, in its supply chain. The procurement has the potential to provide direct and indirect employment to thousands of people spread over more than 100 MSMEs.

The three Cadet Training Ships will cater to the training of officer cadets, including women, at sea after their basic training to meet the future requirements of the Indian Navy. The ships would also provide training to cadets from friendly countries with the aim to strengthen diplomatic relations. The ships can also be deployed for evacuation of people from distress areas, Search & Rescue and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations. The delivery of ships is scheduled to commence from 2026.

The ships will be indigenously designed, developed and constructed at L&T shipyard in Kattupalli, Chennai. The project will generate employment of 22.5 lakh man-days over a period of four-and-half years. This will encourage active participation of Indian shipbuilding and associated industries, including MSMEs.

Tuesday’s signing and exchanging of contracts was done in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane along with other senior civil and military officials of MoD and representatives of HAL & L&T.