Tender for snow survey aircraft

The DRDO’s Chandigarhbased Snow & Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) has published a requirement for one advanced surveillance aircraft to undertake snow and avalanche studies in the high altitude northern parts of India. The SASE is looking for a twin-engine platform with an operating altitude of 32,000 feet, a range of 2,000 km and a maximum payload of 690 kg, including one passenger. The MTOW of the aircraft needs to be a minimum of 5,000 kg. The aircraft should be capable to operate from airfields up to 3,300 metre AMSL and also cold start up to (–20 degree Celsius) without adverse impact on engine, which should have self-contained starting system capable of minimum three or more consecutive internal starts without any adverse effect. Obviously, the aircraft needs to be fully tropicalised and capable of prolonged operations in heat, dust, cold and high humidity conditions prevalent in India. SASE wants a highly capable aircraft sporting a glass cockpit, and sporting the following avionics and communications systems: dual VHF COM, single HF COM, dual navigation receivers integrating VOR, LOC, ILS, single flight management system (FMS), flight data recorder/CVFDR-120 min, dual air computers (ADC)/autopilot, attitude heading reference system (AHRS), automatic flight guidance system, colour weather radar (≥200Nm range) with storm scope, traffic alert and collision avoidance System (TCAS II), terrain awareness and warning system (TAWS), RVSM (reverse vertical separation minimum) compliance, intercom/ headsets, transponder C & S with data enabling, dual GPS with R-NAV or P-RNAV compliance and ELT (emergency location transmitter).