India has signed a contract with a Slovenian firm for 194 microlight aircraft to be used by Indian Air Force, the Navy and the National Cadet Corps (NCC). The contract has been signed with Pipistrel for ‘Virus FW80’. The Indian version of the aircraft will be known as ‘Garur’. The deal is valued at Rs 105.5 crore.
India had first issued a Request for Proposal (RfP) for the micro-light aircrafts in 2011. The aircraft is a two- seater trainer, capable of take-off and landing on prepared as well as semi-prepared surfaces. Made of advanced carbon fibre material, it is capable of carrying two crew members and their equipment. They added that while 110 of the machines are meant for NCC, air force will receive 72 of these aircraft.
IAF needs these aircraft for carrying out bird reconnaissance of air fields and their arrival is expected to give a big boost to flight safety. Navy, too, will devote these aircrafts for the same purpose while NCC will use them for training its cadets, defence sources said. The delivery of the aircraft is expected to commence in the next one year.
Slovenia
- Slovenia is largely a mountainous republic and almost half of the land is forested, with hilly plains spread across the central and eastern regions.
- Mount Triglav, the highest peak, rises to 9,393 ft (2,864 m).
- The capital and largest city is Ljubljana.
- In 2004, it entered NATO and the European Union; in 2007 became the first former Communist country to join the Eurozone.
