Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has awarded a $100 million contract to American firm Honeywell for the supply and manufacture of 88 TPE331-12B engines for the HTT-40 trainer aircraft, the Indian state-run company announced Wednesday.
HAL plans to offer the HTT-40, which comes in at about $7 million per unit, to the Indian Air Force and other overseas customers. A senior HAL executive told Defense News that the company is hoping to secure a $490 million deal in October with the Air Force for 70 of the basic trainers.
HAL originally developed the HTT-40 to address the basic training requirements of the Indian Air Force, for which a potential contract “is under advanced stage of approval,” company Chairman Ramakrishnan Madhavan said in a statement.
But while the HTT-40 basic trainer meets the Air Force’s basic flying requirements, it is more expensive than Swiss PC-7 MKII basic trainers currently in service, according to a senior Air Force official, speaking on the condition of anonymity as the individual was not authorized to discuss this with the media.
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