Stor ordre til lille Pipistrel i Slovenia - AVweb

Pipistrel Wins 194-Aircraft Contract By Mary Grady Pipistrel, a light-aircraft manufacturer based in Slovenia, has won  a contract to supply India’s military with 194 copies of its Virus SW  80 Garud two-seat trainer. “This is without a doubt the largest  contract in the entire 26-year history of Pipistrel,” said Ivo Boscarol,  Pipistrel’s owner and general manager. The company will produce  about seven airplanes per month, over 30 months, to fulfill the contract,  with deliveries starting in mid-2016. “This means that for the next two  and a half years, half of Pipistrel's production capacity is sold out,”  Boscarol said. Pipistrel also will provide training and technical  support. All airplanes competing for the contract were tested in  extreme conditions that are found in India, including high  temperatures and humidity and extreme altitudes. The Garud trainer will be used to train Flight Safety and Air Wing  Cadets. It has been equipped with several special safety features,  including a ballistic parachute system, energy-attenuation seats  and a Kevlar-reinforced cockpit cell. The airplane can take off and  land from rough surfaces. It has three hours of endurance and a  service ceiling of about 20,000 feet. The contract also includes an  option for an additional 100 airplanes. Pipistrel did not reveal any  value for the contract, but according to the armingIndia.com  website, the deal is worth about $20 million. The company has  been negotiating the contract with Indian officials for more than  two years.