The Bangladesh Air Force has purchased two G115 single-engine fixed-wing primary trainers from Germany for basic flying training.
Grob Aircraft will be supplying 24 G120TP and now 2 additional G 115BD training aircraft for use by the Bangladesh Air Force Academy (BAFA) under a comprehensive deal that includes training, adequate spare parts, simulators, MRO and transfer of technology for making spare parts indigenously in Bangladesh.
Already the German aircraft company has dispatched some aircraft to Bangladesh to commence localised training activities. Prior to their delivery, a significant number of Bangladesh Air Force pilots went to Germany for undergoing intensive training at Grob Aircraft facilities.
The contracts have boosted Bangladesh-Germany defence cooperation to a new level, with Germany now interested to offer significant defence hardware to Bangladesh, in line with Bangladesh’s other European strategic partners such as Italy, France, and the United Kingdom.
Various major air forces and flying academies around the world use the Grob training aircraft including the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, Egyptian Air Force and UAE Air Force.
The training aircraft will enable the Bangladesh Air Force to train a new generation of pilots prepared to fly advanced multi-role combat aircraft as the air force makes significant technological and operational capability leaps.
The G115E is of semi-monocoque design. It was designed to execute pilot screening, elementary flight training (EFT), and aerobatics manoeuvres.
The robust landing gear design allowed the aircraft to accomplish harsh training even in the worst climatic conditions.
The aircraft was designed to execute VFR training during day or night and IFR training in non-icing conditions.
The G115E features a robust and corrosion-resistant all-composite airframe made up of carbon composite materials. It is equipped with a fixed tricycle landing gear, empennage, battery switch, ignition switch, stopwatch, static selector, lighting panel, mute switch, and parking brake.
The spacious cockpit of the G115E is fitted with two side-by-side seats for pilot and student. The seats can be conformed through squab cushions and flexible rudder pedals. The large glass canopy renders all round clear visibility to the crew.
The 685kg basic trainer aircraft can loiter in the air for a maximum of 6.2 hours.
The primary flight controls and switches are integrated to the right side of the cockpit to fly the aircraft with a right-hand stick and a left-hand throttle, which enables to transit easily to fast jet aircraft.
The cockpit is equipped with rate of climb indicator, airspeed indicator, attitude indicator, altimeter, voiceover recorder, distance measuring equipment, engine RPM gauge, instrument landing system, and cockpit heading controls.
It also houses communication and navigation systems encompassing differential global positioning system, UHF and VHF radios, standby compass, navigation director, warning panel, communications selector, SSR transponder, and inertial navigation system.
The Grob G115E is powered by a single Lycoming AEIO-360-B1F/B piston engine that produces 139kW of output power. The engine is designed and manufactured by Textron Lycoming Engines, US. It is a four-cylinder air-cooled engine driven by a three-bladed constant speed MT propeller made up of aluminium.
The engine is equipped with UREM38E spark plug, starter, fuel injector, fuel pump, vacuum pump drive and oil filter. The time between overhaul of the engine is 2,000 hours.
The G115E can climb at the rate of 5.3m/s. The maximum and cruise speeds of the aircraft are 343km/h and 230km/h respectively. The stall speed is 96km/h. The range and service ceiling are 1,150km and 3,050m respectively. The take-off distance is 461m, while the landing distance is 457m. The aircraft can loiter in the air for a maximum of 6.2 hours. The aircraft weighs around 685kg and its maximum take-off weight is 990kg.
