Malaysia has signed a contract for 10 Pilatus PC-7 MkII turbo trainer aircraft, ground-based training systems and a complete integrated logistic support package. The sale is valued in excess of $53 million with a delivery set for sometime in 2007.

The Royal Malaysian Air Force is a long established user of Pilatus Aircraft products and training systems, having previously procured 44 PC-7 aircraft in 1982 and nine PC-7 MkII aircraft in 2000.

A Pilatus company spokesman pointed out that the sale is particularly noteworthy because, to date, Pilatus has never lost an existing trainer aircraft customer to the competition. Worldwide, a total of 32 air forces train their pilots on Pilatus products.