Indian Air Force Signs Contract with Pilatus for PC-7 MkII

Pilatus Aircraft Ltd is proud to announce that the Indian Air Force has enteredtoday into a contract in excess of 500 Million Swiss Francs to procure a fleetof 75 PC-7 MkII turboprop aircraft, together with an integrated ground basedtraining system and a comprehensive logistics support package. The contractalso contains an option clause for extending the scope of this contract withinthree years from initial signature and we are optimistic that this will indeed beexecuted. The Indian Air Force joins more than 30 other countries to modernise its trainingpipeline with the most modern, capable and cost effective system for BasicFlying Training on the market today. The Indian Air Force is the fourth largest airforce in the world with approximately 170,000 personnel and 1,500 aircraftoperating from more than 60 air bases. This contract will extend the fleet ofPilatus turboprop trainers to more than 900 aircraft operating worldwide. Delivery of the aircraft and the complete training system is scheduled tocommence in Q4 2012. The decision to select the PC-7 MkII training systemwas made after a thorough evaluation by the Indian Air Force, which looked atall available options. Pilatus Aircraft Ltd views this contract for the Indian AirForce as a major success and believes it will encourage other forces to take aclose look at our pilot training solution. Coupled to this award will be the establishment of in-country depot levelmaintenance capabilities, which includes the required transfer of technology toHindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), enabling in-country maintenance of theplatform throughout its service life of over 30 years. Hindustan AeronauticsLimited (HAL) was established in 1940 with the Government of India as primaryshareholder, having approximately 35,000 employees based at eight sitesacross India. Pilatus has also entered into a separate off-set contract with the Government ofIndia for 30% of the value of this contract and we view this as a majoropportunity. Pilatus has significant confidence in the Indian Defence market withits highly skilled workforce and it is our intention to leverage the offsetopportunity to establish manufacturing capability for the region in support of ourbusiness plans for India.