Chile will invest US$142 million for the manufacture of 33 Pillan II aircraft

The Chilean Ministry of National Defense, the Chilean Air Force (FACh), and the National Aeronautics Company (Enaer) launched the Pillan II Integrated Flight Instruction System project that will replace the current fleet of Enaer T-35 Pillan aircraft of the FACh with 33 new aircraft manufactured in Chile, for an amount of US$142 million.

The ceremony was held on October 26 at the National Aeronautical and Space Museum in Santiago and was presided over by the Minister of National Defense, Maya Fernández, and was attended by the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, Air General Arturo Merino, and by the CEO of Enaer, Henry Cleveland, among other authorities.

TRAINING NEW FIGHTER PILOTS

In his speech, General Merino pointed out that “this is an important activity for the Chilean Air Force. This activity has materialized thanks to the support of the Government and the Defense authorities.

“Today, we are here to present and launch the Pillan II project, designed for the integral basic flight training of the pilots of the Chilean Air Force.

“The Tango Tres Cinco Pillan aircraft, built by Enaer in the ’80s, has almost 40 years of service in the institution.

“It has lived a long life, and many generations of military aviators have been trained in its cockpit, having demonstrated in more than 200,000 flight hours the validity it represented as a basic training aircraft”.

He added that “during the last two years, we have invested time and work in the search for a solution that would allow its replacement, and in coordination with the Defense authorities, we are carrying out this project that will allow the generation of a new basic flight training system for the Chilean Air Force.

In this sense, the development of the strategic capabilities that the Defense Policy imposes on our institution necessarily demands to have professionally competent pilots and personnel, duly instructed and trained, since it is the men and women who finally operate the systems, make decisions and provide flexibility, adaptability, and resilience to our effort”.

“Under these concepts, the proposal presented by Enaer integrates, in an innovative way, systems in line with the current development of technology in the fields of aeronautics, computing, and simulation, all of this together with a new aircraft as a central piece, forming an instruction system that will allow an integral training of pilots in all areas of basic flight.

“The design of the new aircraft considers in its construction the most modern technologies available, complying with the standards required for the training of our fighter pilots, according to the current technical and operational requirements of our institution, which will allow an easy transition to the aircraft currently operated by the Air Force”.

DEVELOPMENT OF CHILEAN AEROSPACE CAPACITY

The elements associated with the Pillan II – developed by DTS, an Enaer subsidiary – include a mixed reality flight simulator, a mission planning, and aircraft control system, as well as a debriefing system, which together will facilitate the transition to combat aircraft equipped with greater capacity and technology, such as the F-16.

In this regard, Enaer’s executive director explained that “this program will have a significant social impact since it is estimated that close to 300 qualified, quality jobs will be created directly for technical, administrative, and service personnel for several years, benefiting numerous families.

“In addition, the work of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) supplying products and services for the program will require a supply of 200 direct jobs.”

He also announced that 50 national SMEs were hired in the current Pilllan program.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

For her part, the Minister of Defense emphasized that “the decision that our government has taken to continue with the development of this project expresses the political will and the aspiration to continue being leaders in the professional training of airspace fighters”.

According to the Ministry of Defense, the initiative contemplates the construction of 33 aircraft and associated systems, with an investment of US$142 million for eight years.

The project will allow from 2027-2028 to have a new generation of new pilots through a new training system that will be at the level of the highest technology worldwide.

During the presentation of the project, the broad collaboration of national universities and research centers in the initiative was highlighted; participating in the initial design of the Pillan II systems – in addition to Enaer and its subsidiary company DTS – researchers and students from the universities of Chile, Concepción, Bernardo O’Higgins, Talca, La Serena, and Federico Santa María, in various disciplines.

This program contemplates the creation of direct jobs for engineers, technicians, and operators with different specialties in areas such as aircraft design, process development and manufacturing of metallic and composite structural parts and assemblies, electrical components, implementation of assembly lines, and assembly of the aircraft and its systems, as well as their testing and certification.

Both construction companies will also contract the services of SMEs throughout the country. As indicated in the presentation, to date, 20 areas of cooperation have been identified with potential suppliers in the metal-mechanic, electrical, and electronics industries, engineering services, and prototyping for the supply of metallic and non-metallic elements.

On the other hand, without considering possible sales abroad, the work derived from the contract with the FACh will be extended for eight years.

The after-sales support will remain during the entire useful life of the fleet, which will be more than 30 years, generating in this period additional jobs to meet the technical and logistical requirements of the Integrated Flight Instruction System.

In addition, considering the size of the fleet, it is estimated that 100 permanent jobs will be created to carry out the maintenance processes of the aircraft and their associated systems throughout the system’s service life.

It should be noted that the Enaer T-35 Pillan was commercialized in Chile, Ecuador, Spain, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, and the Dominican Republic.

With information from InfoDefensa