New Delhi, May 11: The Cabinet Committee on Security on Thursday cleared the purchase of 75 basic trainer aircraft to counter the crippling shortage of trainer aircraft in the Indian Air force.
A senior official said the deal for the purchase of 75 Pilatus PC-7 Mk-II aircraft from Switzerland would cost around Rs 3000 crore.
The decision comes in the face of "critical deficiency" in trainer aircrafts - pointed out by the parliamentary standing committee on defence recently - and Air Force's desperate need to initiate its cadets into flying with basic trainers.
Since July 2009, the air force has been adopting an ad hoc method of teaching flying, initiating rookie pilots into flying directly with intermediate trainer jet Kiran.
Its basic trainer Deepak has been involved in at least 17 crashes, in which 19 pilots have been killed, forcing the air force to ground the fleet in 2009.
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