Friday, September 24, 2010

BRS Aerospace Wins Indian Order For Basic Trainers

Programs

Aerospace Daily & Defense Report Sep 24 , 2010 , p. 11
Neelam Mathews

Minnesota-based BRS Aerospace, manufacturer of whole-airplane parachutes, has been contracted to integrate and help certify its parachute recovery systems for India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) HPT-32 basic training aircraft used by the Indian Air Force.

“This represents a strong market opportunity for BRS to install lifesaving parachutes on training aircraft, civilian or military,” said Gary Moore, BRS Aerospace vice president for sales and marketing.

The urgent requirement comes with the temporary grounding of a fleet of more than 100 Hindustan Piston Trainer (HPT)-32s following a spurt of crashes.

Once BRS has completed the installation design, the company will work with HAL and the Indian Air Force to test and certify the customized whole-airframe parachute system.

Aviation Week reported in April that industry bidders had submitted offers to build 75 basic trainer aircraft for the Indian Air Force, at a cost of roughly $6 million each.

Contenders included PZL 130 Orlik, Grob 120, Hawker Beechcraft, Pilatus PC-7A, Korea’s KT-1 and EADS Socata TB30 – with the last three having the same basic platform and engine.

Once a decision is made, HAL will float a bid for the design of 104 aircraft.

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