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India to renegotiate AJT deal
Girja Shankar Kaura
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 2
India is likely to renegotiate the purchase of advance jet trainers (AJTs) for the IAF with other suppliers following a stalemate in the negotiations with British Aerospace over the price of Hawk aircraft.

Sources in the government said India had already agreed for a presentation from the Russian MiG-MAPO, the manufacturers of MiG-AT and was also likely to invite the Italian firm Armacchi with regard to AJTs being produced by it.

Apparently the Indian price negotiation team is not happy with the price being quoted by British Aerospace for the various components and sub-components to be fitted as per the Indian requirements in the Hawk. The deal was expected to be finalised sometime early this year, but the stalemate over the price has now forced the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to scout for other AJTs which are available in the international market at a much lower cost.

India is believed to have agreed for the presentation from MiG-MAPO during the recent visit of the Union Defence Minister Jaswant Singh to Russia. Incidentally, MiG-AT is being produced in collaboration with France which is supplying the engines. India apparently is also under pressure from France, which is emerging as its strategic partner especially in the nuclear field, to have a look at the MiG-AT.

The sources disclosed that the renegotiating process for the purchase of AJTs is likely to begin soon with MiG-MAPO and the Armacchi formally submitting their proposals. Both AJTs meet the Indian requirements and would be avialable at a lower cost.

The Union Government had cleared the proposal for the purchase of 66 AJTs and after evaluating various trainer aircraft available then. At that time British Hawk had been shortlisted as the one meeting IAF’s requirements. As per the initial agreement the delivery of the planes was to start between 24 and 36 months after signing of the contract.

However, several months have elapsed since the final selection with problems arising on the price of the British Hawk. The MoD is expected to close that chapter now since the British Aerospace is unwilling to scale down the price as demanded by the Indian price negotiation team.

The MoD is expected to seal the contract for the AJTs after presentations are made by the Russian and Italian manufacturers.

It appears the MiG-AT might have an edge considering India’s long standing agreement with Russia in defence matters. Besides, most of the defence equipment to India has been supplied by Russia. Most importantly the Indians are familiar with the Russian equipment and would be most comfortable with it.

Russia is also expected to offer production facilities in India and spell out the possible time-table for the transfer of technology which could be made available at the Nasik plant of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. The full assembly, including that of the fuselage can be carried out at the plant.

According to available information, MiG-AT is a fourth generation jet trainer and unlike the Hawk powered by a single engine has twin engines. That makes the MiG-AT AJT safer. Even if one engine of the MiG-AT fails, the other is powerful enough to keep the aircraft airborne. Even if both the engines fail, the plane can still glide for 15 minutes.

The Larzac engines manufactured by the French giant Turbomeca also give the plane high manoeuvrability considered an advantage for combat training. The MiG-AT designers have also installed state-of-art satellite based navigation system for guiding the plane to a maximum distance of 2600 km.