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Retired Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi, former Indian Air Force(IAF) head, faces a Central Bureau of Investigation chargesheet for allegedly diluting a single specification of the VVIP helicopter that India was buying.
In the Air Staff Qualitative Requirements (ASQR), the helicopters service ceiling was lowered from 6,000 to 4,500 metres. This made the AW-101 helicopter eligible and its Anglo-Italian manufacturer,AgustaWestland, bagged the euro 556 million (Rs 4,377 crore) IAF contract for 12 helicopters.
That violation, now under investigation, is dwarfed in the IAFs purchase of the PilatusPC-7 Mark II basic trainer aircraft (BTA), where at least 12 benchmarks were changed between March and October 2009, including some relating to pilot safety. These allowed the PC-7 Mark II, fielded by Swiss company Pilatus, to qualify and win an IAF order worth $640 million (Rs 3,780 crore) for 75 BTA.
Business Standard is in possession of the documents relating to this case. Asked for comments, the IAF has chosen not to respond.
The documents reveal that upto September 29, 2009, Hindustan AeronauticsLtd (HAL) was indigenously developing 181 BTA for the IAF, dubbed the Hindustan Turbo Trainer40 (HTT40). On March 5, 2009, IAF laid down stringent performance benchmarks, dubbed Preliminary Air Staff Qualitative Requirements or PSQR.
These began getting diluted in September 2009, when the ministry of defence (MoD) permitted IAF to import 75 BTAthrough a global tender. Within days, the IAF issued a relaxed ASQR, in a document numbered ASQR 18/09. While the Pilatus PC-7 Mark II would not have met the earlier PSQR formulated for HAL, the new ASQR seem almost tailored for Pilatus.
Among the 12 dilutions Business Standard has identified, the most worrisome is doing away with the requirement for a zero-zero ejection seat. This allows pilots to eject even from a stationary aircraft on the ground (zero altitude, zero speed). The October 2009 ASQR does not require a zero-zero ejection seat. Sincethe PC-7 Mk II has zero-60 ejection seats, i.e. the aircraft must be moving at 60 knots (110 kmph), dropping the earlier requirement made it eligible for the IAF contract.
The PSQR of March 2009 required the BTA to have a pressurised cockpit, letting the trainee fly at altitudes above 15-20,000 feet. But theASQR of October 2009 dispensed with this. The PC-7 Mark II has an unpressurised cockpit.
Also diluted was the requirement for good externalvision from the instructors rear cockpit, a crucial attribute in a BTA. The PSQR of March 2009 mandated a field of view of minus eight degree vision for the rear cockpit. The ASQR of October 2009 dispensed with it, specifying only, the rear cockpit should be sufficiently raised to allow safe flight instruction. The PC-7 Mark II,which does not meet the eight-degree specification, became eligible.
Glide ratio is another important attribute for a light, single-engine aircraft. The glide ratio of 12:1 specified in the March 2009 PSQR meant the trainer could glide, in the event of an engine failure or shutdown, a distance of 12 km for every one km of altitude that it lost. Which would enable a BTA flying at an altitude of five km to glide for 60 km, landing safely at any airport within that distance. But the October 2009 ASQR relaxed the glide-ratio requirement to 10:1. That is precisely the glide-ratio of the Pilatus PC-7 Mark II.
The ASQR of October 2009 also relaxed the requirement for in-flight simulation. This permits the instructor in the rear cockpit to electronically simulate instrument failures, training the rookie pilot to handle an emergency. The PSQR of March 2009 required this facility; the HTT-40 being developed by HAL also has these. The PC-7 Mark II does not and the relaxation of this condition made it eligible for the IAF tender.
Other relaxations that made the Pilatus trainer eligible include increasing the take-offdistance from 700 to 1,000 metres and reducing maximum speed from 475 kmph to 400 kmph.
On Monday, this newspaper had reported (Indian Air Forceat war with Hindustan Aeronautics; wants to import, not build, a trainer) about a personal letter earlier this month from Air Chief Marshal NA K Browne, the present IAF chief, to Defence Minister A K Antony, asking for HALs trainer project to be scrappedand another 106 PC-7 Mark II trainers be imported from Pilatus, a purchase that will benefit the Swiss company by an estimated $800 million (Rs 4,750 crore).
In the Air Staff Qualitative Requirements (ASQR), the helicopters service ceiling was lowered from 6,000 to 4,500 metres. This made the AW-101 helicopter eligible and its Anglo-Italian manufacturer,AgustaWestland, bagged the euro 556 million (Rs 4,377 crore) IAF contract for 12 helicopters.
That violation, now under investigation, is dwarfed in the IAFs purchase of the PilatusPC-7 Mark II basic trainer aircraft (BTA), where at least 12 benchmarks were changed between March and October 2009, including some relating to pilot safety. These allowed the PC-7 Mark II, fielded by Swiss company Pilatus, to qualify and win an IAF order worth $640 million (Rs 3,780 crore) for 75 BTA.
Business Standard is in possession of the documents relating to this case. Asked for comments, the IAF has chosen not to respond.
The documents reveal that upto September 29, 2009, Hindustan AeronauticsLtd (HAL) was indigenously developing 181 BTA for the IAF, dubbed the Hindustan Turbo Trainer40 (HTT40). On March 5, 2009, IAF laid down stringent performance benchmarks, dubbed Preliminary Air Staff Qualitative Requirements or PSQR.
These began getting diluted in September 2009, when the ministry of defence (MoD) permitted IAF to import 75 BTAthrough a global tender. Within days, the IAF issued a relaxed ASQR, in a document numbered ASQR 18/09. While the Pilatus PC-7 Mark II would not have met the earlier PSQR formulated for HAL, the new ASQR seem almost tailored for Pilatus.
Among the 12 dilutions Business Standard has identified, the most worrisome is doing away with the requirement for a zero-zero ejection seat. This allows pilots to eject even from a stationary aircraft on the ground (zero altitude, zero speed). The October 2009 ASQR does not require a zero-zero ejection seat. Sincethe PC-7 Mk II has zero-60 ejection seats, i.e. the aircraft must be moving at 60 knots (110 kmph), dropping the earlier requirement made it eligible for the IAF contract.
The PSQR of March 2009 required the BTA to have a pressurised cockpit, letting the trainee fly at altitudes above 15-20,000 feet. But theASQR of October 2009 dispensed with this. The PC-7 Mark II has an unpressurised cockpit.
Also diluted was the requirement for good externalvision from the instructors rear cockpit, a crucial attribute in a BTA. The PSQR of March 2009 mandated a field of view of minus eight degree vision for the rear cockpit. The ASQR of October 2009 dispensed with it, specifying only, the rear cockpit should be sufficiently raised to allow safe flight instruction. The PC-7 Mark II,which does not meet the eight-degree specification, became eligible.
Glide ratio is another important attribute for a light, single-engine aircraft. The glide ratio of 12:1 specified in the March 2009 PSQR meant the trainer could glide, in the event of an engine failure or shutdown, a distance of 12 km for every one km of altitude that it lost. Which would enable a BTA flying at an altitude of five km to glide for 60 km, landing safely at any airport within that distance. But the October 2009 ASQR relaxed the glide-ratio requirement to 10:1. That is precisely the glide-ratio of the Pilatus PC-7 Mark II.
The ASQR of October 2009 also relaxed the requirement for in-flight simulation. This permits the instructor in the rear cockpit to electronically simulate instrument failures, training the rookie pilot to handle an emergency. The PSQR of March 2009 required this facility; the HTT-40 being developed by HAL also has these. The PC-7 Mark II does not and the relaxation of this condition made it eligible for the IAF tender.
Other relaxations that made the Pilatus trainer eligible include increasing the take-offdistance from 700 to 1,000 metres and reducing maximum speed from 475 kmph to 400 kmph.
On Monday, this newspaper had reported (Indian Air Forceat war with Hindustan Aeronautics; wants to import, not build, a trainer) about a personal letter earlier this month from Air Chief Marshal NA K Browne, the present IAF chief, to Defence Minister A K Antony, asking for HALs trainer project to be scrappedand another 106 PC-7 Mark II trainers be imported from Pilatus, a purchase that will benefit the Swiss company by an estimated $800 million (Rs 4,750 crore).
nothing surprises me in this country anymore. 
