"The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) has invited aviation contractors to submit tenders for new trainer aircraft to replace its fleet of S-211 trainers, and is currently reviewing and evaluating the bids," the Ministry of Defence said in a statement to AFP.

Italy's Aermacchi said Thursday it is bidding for a contract to supply its jet-engine training aircraft to the city-state, which has one of Asia's most modern armed forces.

"The M-311 is being offered as their basic trainer," Giovanni Pasqua, the company's head of media relations, told AFP at Asian Aerospace, the world's third-largest airshow which ends Sunday.

The twin-engine M-311 is an upgraded version of Aermacchi's S-211 trainer.

"The implementation of the program is to allow the phasing out of the S-211s, which is expected to take place in two years' time," the defence ministry said.

It said the size of the new trainer fleet will be proposed by the bidders to meet the requirements outlined by the RSAF. Aermacchi said it has proposed 20 M-311s.

The company, part of the Finmeccanica group, sold about 55 of the older S-211 to Singapore and the Philippines.

Neither Aermacchi nor the Ministry of Defence revealed the estimated value of the contract.

Aermacchi, which says it is bidding against turboprop trainers, says the M-311 includes an Embedded Training System (ETS) which allows for simulated combat.

"We have one of the best ETS in the world," said Massimo Lucchesini, Aermacchi's general manager. "We are able to simulate, for example, any kind of radar, any kind of threat."

Among its requirements, the Ministry of Defence says it wants its new trainers to come "with modern avionics to introduce systems management processes and procedures to future pilots."

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