Defence: Fighter Trainers; Closing in for the Kill

Defence

India Today, December 21, 1998
Dec 21, 1998

AVIATION: FIGHTER TRAINERS
Closing in for the Kill

Finally it's purchase time for the IAF. But will the dark horse win?

By Stephen David

For an air race, it has been an awfully slow one. Fourteen years after the Indian Air Force (IAF) put in a requirement for an Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT), the race is finally headed for a culmination. At the AeroIndia 1998 show at the IAF base at Yelahanka near Bangalore last week, the two major contenders -- the British Hawk and Russian MiG-AT -- showed off their paces. But no one was ruling out the dark horse, Czech L159. Defence Minister George Fernandes who inaugurated the show confirmed that his ministry had "almost finalised the choice which will be made known in the very near future". The minister's remarks find an echo in the excitement in the various camps bidding hard for the deal. India is likely to acquire 66 AJTs, priced at $12-$16 million (Rs 50-67 crore) each. With spares and support equipment the deal could be worth anywhere up to $1.5 billion (Rs 6,300 crore) and counting.

The MiG-AT Without the AJT, the IAF has lost a large number of pilots in avoidable accidents. Pilots learn to fly on the HPT-32 and HTT-34 aircraft and then graduate to jets on the Kiran. The force thereafter needs an aircraft safe enough for a rookie and tough enough for training a combat pilot.

The bargaining at Yelahanka has been tough. As pilot Gordon McClymont showed off the Hawk 200 -- a derivative of the Hawk 100 -- against a gloomy winter sky, Peter Ginger, India president of British Aerospace (BA) remained bullish about the deal. "We have the best deal going with India because the engines for these planes will be manufactured at HAL's facility in Bangalore," he says.

But Ginger knows that it is a buyers' market. About 200 m away, top Russian executives of the MiG-AT manufacturer MAPO (MiG Moscow Aircraft Production Organisation) lost no time in hardselling their fighter trainer. Says MAPO Chairman Vladimir Kauzin: "We have offered co-production facility to India (HAL) and are close to signing the deal with India. Our costs are also lower than those of anyone else." With reprogrammable fly-by-wire system and on-board computer simulation system, the MiG-AT can be made to feel like any contemporary fighter in the Indian Air Force -- the MiG-21, Jaguar, MiG-29 and Su-30.

The Hawk Defence Ministry officials expect HAL's Bangalore facility to undertake co-production of the 66 jet trainers bringing down their cost by one-third apiece. Says Prabir Sengupta, secretary of Defence Production and Supplies, Ministry of Defence: "We have to have long-term interests in mind when we sign the AJT deal."

At the airshow -- the five-day biennial show attracted 110 international companies from 17 countries apart from 60 Indian participants -- HAL Chairman C.G. Krishnadas Nair said, "HAL is ready to work with any partner that will give us the best deal." Starved of orders and underworked, HAL needs all the help it can get.

The Hawk 100 is believed to have an edge over the others because of its nearly 20-year-old association with BA to make Jaguar planes. But then, MiG's association with India goes back even further to the '60s and has been bolstered by a 1994 Indo-Russian agreement on military cooperation. But MiG-MAPO is facing an image crisis. Its inability to provide spares and service support is a problem that the IAF has perennially faced in dealing with Russia.

However, top sources said the third contender, the Czech L159 fighter trainer (40 per cent American-owned) is giving the others a run for their money. In a Formula One race one sometimes gets a Mika Hakkinen to beat favourite Michael Schumacher.

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