Poland To Get Bids for New Jet Trainer

Poland has launched its long-awaited tender for a new advanced jet pilot training system, outlining an ambitious set of performance characteristics for its replacement for the PZL Mielec TS-11 Iskra.

As detailed by the nation's defence procurement agency on 2 September, the integrated training system requirement seeks 16 advanced jet trainer/lead-in fighter trainer aircraft. The contest will also cover the provision of ground-based training equipment including a full mission simulator, plus a package of logistics support.

The successful bidder must deliver training for an initial 12 pilots, including six instructors, and at least 50 ground personnel.
The first two trainers and related systems should be delivered to the Polish air force academy in Deblin by December 2013, with all aircraft and equipment to follow within a further two-year period.

Warsaw has allocated 1.45 billion zlotys ($440 million) for the acquisition, and expects to announce a winner in the first quarter of next year.

But spreading far beyond the AJT remit, the defence ministry's specification list means that none of the three contenders in place to submit first bid responses by 4 October can meet all the requirements. Alenia Aermacchi is offering the M-346, BAE Systems the Hawk T2/128, and Korea Aerospace Industries/Lockheed Martin the T-50/FA-50.

For its secondary light combat requirement, the air force is seeking an aircraft capable of carrying at least 2,000kg (4,410lb) of air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles and laser- and GPS-guided bombs. It should also have an internal 20mm cannon, plus provisions for a targeting pod and self-protection equipment.

The defence ministry has also specified a design with fly-by-wire flight controls and supersonic performance, plus an in-flight refuelling probe, Link 16 datalink and preferably an active electronically scanned array radar.

The winning airframe should also have a service life of 8,000 flight hours at 250h a year, enabling the type to remain in use for more than 30 years.

Representatives from the competing manufacturers say they hope "some technical requirements will be adjusted", but add: "There is plenty of room for negotiation".

This message is supported by Marcin Idzik, undersecretary of state in the Polish defence ministry. "The requirements are so broad, to include a maximum number of bidders," he says.

Comments

Pakistani JF-17 A Thunder OR A Blunder

Pakistan has witnessed new defense acquisitions in this decade than any other, and in the center of it all is the new fighter which was designed by China with partial funding from Pakistan. It is formally known as JF-17 Thunder. When the fighter was in development, Pakistani online communities were jumping with excitement comparing it with its arch rival India’s modern combatants Su-30MKI, Mig-29S & Mirage-2000H. There were claims of it featuring western Radars and long range missiles, & Chinese ordering some due to its superior capabilities. But the reality is far from it. China having spent significant amount of money into a fighter which it is never going to use, most probably forced Pakistan to accept its avionics to offset some its development costs. Chinese who are known for their self reliance first and quality next, are further downgrading JF-17s capabilities with their poorly copy-pirated avionics. Along with their dubious weapons, any chance of JF

Pakistani F-16s Shoot Down RAF Eurofighter Typhoons During Air Combat Exercises In Turkey

Pakistani pilots flying modernised versions of the 1970s-vintage F-16 Falcon fighter have beaten the RAF's brand-new Eurofighter Typhoon superfighters during air combat exercises in Turkey, according to a Pakistani officer. Analysis: The RAF Typhoon, formerly known as the Eurofighter, should nonetheless have been vastly superior in air-to-air combat whether BVR or close in within visual range (WVR). The cripplingly expensive, long-delayed Eurofighter was specifically designed to address the defects of its predecessor the Tornado F3 – famously almost useless in close-in, dogfighting-style air combat. The Typhoon was meant to see off such deadly in-close threats as Soviet "Fulcrums" and "Flankers" using short-range missiles fired using helmet-mounted sight systems: such planes were thought well able to beat not just Tornados but F-16s in close fighting, and this expectation was borne out after the Cold War when the Luftwaffe inherite

India Planned Attack On Pak Navy Mehran Base To Kill Chinese Engineers

The terrorist attack on Karachi's Mehran Naval Station on May 22 was conceived and launched by India with the primary objective of killing the Chinese engineers present there, a Pakistani newspaper has claimed, citing 'informed sources'. Four to six Taliban terrorists had entered PNS Mehran on May 22, destroying two maritime surveillance aircraft and killing ten military personnel during their 17-hour siege of the naval air base. "India is the only country in the region that feels troubled by the Pakistan Navy, which had awfully beaten the Indian Navy in Operation Dwarka of 1965. Since then, it has been an earnest desire of India to harm the Pakistan Navy but it was perhaps not possible on the battle front, hence it struck the PNS Mehran," The News quoted sources as saying.

ASIAN DEFENCE

Search This Blog