Republic of Singapore Places Order for 19 Pilatus PC-21 Trainers

Released on Friday, November 03, 2006

Pilatus Aircraft Ltd will supply the PC-21 Advanced Turboprop Trainer Aircraft for the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) Basic Wings Course (BWC). Lockheed Martin was awarded a 20-year contract by the Singapore Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) to operate the RSAF BWC. This was the first open competition in which the PC-21 has participated. Nineteen PC-21 Advanced Turboprop Trainer Aircraft and a 20-year engineering and logistics support service will be provided by Pilatus as part of a turn-key training package awarded to Lockheed Martin Simulation, Training and Support (LMSTS). The training will be conducted at the Royal Australian Air Force Base Pearce, north of Perth in Western Australia.

The contract is for the provision of Pilot and Weapons System Operator ground-school, simulator hours and flying for a period of 20 years commencing June 2008. LMSTS is the Prime Contractor and has been working with Pilatus since 2004 to develop the winning solution. Hawker Pacific Pty Ltd. will provide aircraft maintenance services to Pilatus to enable Pilatus to generate the flying hour task. Oscar J. Schwenk, Chairman of Pilatus stated "This is one of the first Public Private Partnership (PPP) training systems in the world and is the result of pioneering innovation by the Singaporean Government, LMSTS, Pilatus and Hawker Pacific. We are delighted to have been selected after a rigorous analysis by the DSTA of 4 competing bids. We are also delighted to be one of the first in what will be, I am sure, a growing market for PPP training solutions. I wish to express my sincere appreciation to our customer, the RSAF, and my commitment to our partners, LMSTS and Hawker Pacific."