Pilatus bullish on PC-21 trainer sale to France

[Vergennes]

@Taygibay Opinion ?
-
Pilatus is hopeful of clinching an order from the French air force in early 2017 for 20-25 PC-21 turboprops as a replacement for the service’s aged fleet of Dassault Alpha Jet trainers.

Speaking at the NBAA business aviation convention in Orlando, Florida on 31 October, Markus Bucher, chief executive of the Swiss manufacturer, says a contract from France's DGA procurement agency is “quite close”.

The PC-21, which is powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 engine, is the only aircraft being offered by the two shortlisted consortia, respectively led by Airbus Defence & Space and Babcock.

Although clearly in prime position, Bucher cautions that a deal may “still take a little while” to finalise. Assuming that Paris does not abandon the procurement, a decision is likely in early 2017.

Pilatus had previously faced competition from Leonardo’s Aermacchi M-345, but the developmental jet has not been taken forward to the final stages of the contest.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/pilatus-bullish-on-pc-21-trainer-sale-to-france-430939/

 

[Blue Marlin]

@Taygibay Opinion ?
-
Pilatus is hopeful of clinching an order from the French air force in early 2017 for 20-25 PC-21 turboprops as a replacement for the service’s aged fleet of Dassault Alpha Jet trainers.

Speaking at the NBAA business aviation convention in Orlando, Florida on 31 October, Markus Bucher, chief executive of the Swiss manufacturer, says a contract from France's DGA procurement agency is “quite close”.

The PC-21, which is powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 engine, is the only aircraft being offered by the two shortlisted consortia, respectively led by Airbus Defence & Space and Babcock.

Although clearly in prime position, Bucher cautions that a deal may “still take a little while” to finalise. Assuming that Paris does not abandon the procurement, a decision is likely in early 2017.

Pilatus had previously faced competition from Leonardo’s Aermacchi M-345, but the developmental jet has not been taken forward to the final stages of the contest.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/pilatus-bullish-on-pc-21-trainer-sale-to-france-430939/

sacre bleu !! the swiss pushing the french!

what happening to france?
since they have removed the m-345 for the tender i would assume it would be turboprops only. but its replacing the alpha jets which are clearly jets so id make that assumption
i doubt you'd go for hawks but who knows, the t-50 is too advanced for this specific requirements.
and American companies are more bothered about the t-x competition.

what about the super tucano there quiet good and good for coin roles. which makes it a lot cheaper than the rafale but would be near a base. as it range is not as long as the rafales.

personally id go for the pc-21, its a good plucky little bird.

 

[Nilgiri]

single Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 engine

Sweet! I will take my cut if France chooses it

 

[Vergennes]

sacre bleu !! the swiss pushing the french!

what happening to france?
since they have removed the m-345 for the tender i would assume it would be turboprops only. but its replacing the alpha jets which are clearly jets so id make that assumption
i doubt you'd go for hawks but who knows, the t-50 is too advanced for this specific requirements.
and American companies are more bothered about the t-x competition.

what about the super tucano there quiet good and good for coin roles. which makes it a lot cheaper than the rafale but would be near a base. as it range is not as long as the rafales.

personally id go for the pc-21, its a good plucky little bird.

I wonder why the brits are nowhere to be seen when there's a tender in France ? @mike2000 is back

Sweet! I will take my cut if France chooses it

If we chose it,you'll have to invite me to eat a Poutine.
Have you already eaten it ?

 

[Nilgiri]

If we chose it,you'll have to invite me to eat a Poutine.
Have you already eaten it ?

Of course. There is a legendary poutine shack just down the road lol.

You can come and get your proper accent and metropole words and phrases made fun of

 

[Blue Marlin]

I wonder why the brits are nowhere to be seen when there's a tender in France ? @mike2000 is back



If we chose it,you'll have to invite me to eat a Poutine.
Have you already eaten it ?

were lazy, which is why northrop grumman dropped the hawk and went for a clean sheet design for their entry for the tx trainer tender.
that and the hawk is old, probably as old as what its was gonna replace.

 

[Vergennes]

Of course. There is a legendary poutine shack just down the road lol.

Yeah,I've heard it's like a religion there!

You can come and get your proper accent and metropole words and phrases made fun of

Coming to another country means integration. I'll train myself to talk like them,have their accents etc.
First lesson : Learn how to talk like a lumberjack.
Second lesson,learn the most important words to survive there ;

-Crisse.
-Colisse.
Tabernak.

Third lesson : Only feed yourself with Poutine and maple syrup.

Fourth lesson : Worship and only listen to Céline Dion.

lmao,it's so cliché.

 

[Nilgiri]

Yeah,I've heard it's like a religion there!



Coming to another country means integration. I'll train myself to talk like them,have their accents etc.
First lesson : Learn how to talk like a lumberjack.
Second lesson,learn the most important words to survive there ;

-Crisse.
-Colisse.
Tabernak.

Third lesson : Only feed yourself with Poutine and maple syrup.

Fourth lesson : Worship and only listen to Céline Dion.

lmao,it's so cliché.

I'm up to stage 3.

I cannot bring myself to stage 4.....I resist it with every moral decent fibre of my body

Also you forgot stage 5: really crazy fast driving....montreal's official religion. Being a Frenchman, you can skip to this stage directly by your nature and you will be accepted automatically hehe.

 

[Penguin]

sacre bleu !! the swiss pushing the french!

what happening to france?
since they have removed the m-345 for the tender i would assume it would be turboprops only. but its replacing the alpha jets which are clearly jets so id make that assumption
i doubt you'd go for hawks but who knows, the t-50 is too advanced for this specific requirements.
and American companies are more bothered about the t-x competition.

what about the super tucano there quiet good and good for coin roles. which makes it a lot cheaper than the rafale but would be near a base. as it range is not as long as the rafales.

personally id go for the pc-21, its a good plucky little bird.

HOw about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alenia_Aermacchi_M-346_Master

 

[echo 1]

Question, why would France want to replace a jet aircraft with a turbo prop? Or are they replacing it due to age of the air frame? I am a little surprised that they didn't go for the M-345 as a lead in jet trainer.

 

[Nilgiri]

Question, why would France want to replace a jet aircraft with a turbo prop? Or are they replacing it due to age of the air frame? I am a little surprised that they didn't go for the M-345 as a lead in jet trainer.

A turboprop is a jet engine

The pilatus covers every training regime in early and mid training phases extremely well. You don't need a conventional turbofan/turbojet for that (if thats what you mean by "jet")

 

[Taygibay]

The M-345 was a logical choice, it's a GadJet copy.
The L-39 NG has disappeared from contention.

If it wasn't part Lockmart, I'd go with the T-50 from KAI.
An EADS Mako with an M-88 would have been nice too.
Both would expand into supersonic.

AirLand Scorpion is too big and slow and all others are turboprops.

Now, if you check the procurement numbers, 20-25 planes
is not the replacement value for GadJets. My guess is that
these will be lead-in training and that another contract will
have to be awarded for the differentiated high-end part of
the requirement.

Great day all, Tay.

 

[Blue Marlin]

HOw about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alenia_Aermacchi_M-346_Master

thats what i meant instead of the 345, my bad

 

[echo 1]

A turboprop is a jet engine

The pilatus covers every training regime in early and mid training phases extremely well. You don't need a conventional turbofan/turbojet for that (if thats what you mean by "jet")

Hahaha, funny, I should have said Jet Trainer vs turbo prop trainer. If one looks at it all orthodox air forces have a turbo prop trainer, followed by a jet trainer, followed by dual seat fighter trainer (like a B or D F-16), followed by solo (only applies if the aircraft is available as a single seat fighter aircraft like A or C F-16)

 

[Nilgiri]

Hahaha, funny, I should have said Jet Trainer vs turbo prop trainer. If one looks at it all orthodox air forces have a turbo prop trainer, followed by a jet trainer, followed by dual seat fighter trainer (like a B or D F-16), followed by solo (only applies if the aircraft is available as a single seat fighter aircraft like A or C F-16)

It looks like it wont be a 1:1 replacement. This will be a partial tranche for basic training and France may opt for something else for intermediate+ jet level (and that would be a turbofan trainer of some sort) for the remaining alpha jets to be replaced.