UK-headquartered Babcock has been chosen as the preferred bidder for France’s tri-service Mentor2 pilot training programme.
Disclosing the selection in its half-year results on 13 November, Babcock says the 15-year, €800 million ($848 million) contract will be awarded before the end of its current financial year in April 2025.
It was notified of the selection by France’s DGA military procurement agency earlier “this week”, it says.
The contract “covers initial training before pilots specialise in either fighter pilot training, transport pilot or helicopter pilot training”.
Paris is looking to acquire 22 trainers, plus three for use by the DGA, to replace the existing training provided on Cirrus SR20s and Grob Aircraft G120As at Salon de Provence and Cognac air bases, respectively.
These aircraft are made available made under a deal with the Airbus Flight Academy.
It is unclear if Babcock has selected an aircraft for the requirement, however. Contenders include the new Diamond Aircraft Dart-750, Grob Aircraft France TPX Cobra, and Pilatus’s new-generation PC-7 MKX.
Neither the DGA nor Babcock were immediately available to comment.
Babcock already provides fighter training for the French air force using a fleet of 26 Pilatus PC-21s at Cognac under two earlier contracts for the Fomedec and Mentor1 programmes.
It says the Mentor2 effort will “involve the deployment of over 100 employees at the Salon de Provence air force base” in southern France.
“We are also in the final bidding stages of an opportunity to support fighter pilot training for the Belgian air force from France,” Babcock adds.
