Modi Govt Permits Purchase of 70 HTT-40 Aircraft for Indian Armed Forces, Intends to Provide Employment

The Indian Government officially declares the approval of 70 HTT-40 Basic Trainer Aircraft on March 01, 2023 (Wednesday). As per the tender authorized by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the aircraft acquisition from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited are to be deployed for the Indian Air Force.

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CSS) chaired by PM Modi decided to accept the pact of IAF buying Made-in-India Trainer Aircraft at the cost of about Rs 6,828.36 crores. Hindustan Aeronautics Company will supply 70 Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 (HTT-40) Basic Trainer Aircraft (BTA) for more than six years.

Benefits of Indigenous Trainer Aircraft

Through this plan of obtaining HTT-40 BTA, the Indian Defence Sector will be strengthened by putting effective efforts into making the defence manufacturing industries self-reliant. These homegrown designed aircraft will further create new job opportunities.

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi has approved procurement of 70 HTT-40 Basic Trainer Aircraft at the cost of ₹6,828.36 crores. The aircraft will be supplied over a period of six years. https://t.co/94WYM6FzRs

— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) March 1, 2023

Also, it will highly benefit the dynamic Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector. The Defence Minister of India recently posted in a series of tweets that this major initiative rolled out by the government is noteworthy as it will encourage the indigenous development of Defence equipment. India’s Defence Sector will witness a significant transformation as a part of Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) and ‘Make in India’ schemes.

PM Modi’s Contract of 3 Cadet Training Ships

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also tweeted that PM Narendra Modi has accepted to sign the undertaking for the accretion of three Cadet Training Ships (CTS). Under the “Buy-IDDM” (Indigenous Designed and Manufactured) Developed category, the ships will be purchased at a total cost of Rs 3108.09 crores. 

The CCS under the chairmanship of PM Shri @narendramodi has accorded approval to sign a contract for acquisition of 3 Cadet Training Ship (CTS) at an overall cost of Rs. 3108.09 Crs under Buy-Indian (IDDM) Category.https://t.co/MCEW9mMiDl

— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) March 1, 2023

Talking about its usage, the contract will cater to the overall training requirements of the Navy and support it further in its missions, as per the official announcement made on March 01, 2023 (Wednesday).

Growing Demands in Defence Sector

The Ministry of Defence stated that the aircraft acquisition will meet the shortage of Basic Trainer Aircraft (BTA) of the Indian Air Force (IAF) required for the training of newly inducted pilots. 

Moreover, the HTT-40 is a Turboprop Aircraft that has been designed indigenously. These aircraft have good low-speed handling qualities and hence also provide better training effectiveness.

These ships will cater for training of officer cadets, including lady cadets, at sea after their basic training to meet the future requirement of the Indian Navy. I’m grateful to Pradhanmantriji for this decision.

— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) March 1, 2023

The Defence Ministry also proclaims that the procurement is expected to grant direct employment to nearly one thousand 500 personnel and indirect employment for about three thousand people who are spread over 100 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).

HTT-40 Aircraft Description

This Turboprop Aircraft is built with low-speed handling qualities and is quite effective in providing training. Talking about its formation, it has a fully-aerobatic tandem seat turbo trainer, an air-conditioned cockpit, hot re-fueling, modern avionics, zero-zero ejection seats as well as running change-over features. 

It is specifically designed for basic flight training, aerobatics, close-formation flights and instrument flying by Hindustan Aerobatics Limited while its role also includes night flying and navigation. It is capable of taking off from a short distance. 

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