Italy bids for trainer crown
Brian M Walters
Of the contenders for advanced trainer contracts in many parts of the world, Italy’s AleniaAermacchi’s M-346 is increasingly regarded best placed to come out on top. The product of companies with a long tradition in the design and production of military trainers, the M-346 has some design similarities to the Russian Yak-130, with which Italy was partnered for some time, and indeed with the MAKO advanced trainer/combat aircraft, on which EADS tried hard to persuade the UAE to become a partner. But although the Yak-130 is in low-rate production for the Russian Air Force, it cannot be considered a serious contender for exports worldwide, although some countries that have traditionally sourced military aircraft from Russia may place orders.
But it should be noted that the Italian companies have an unmatched export record.
With justifiable pride, AleniaAermacchi’s chief executive, Carmelo Cosentino, told the IDEX Show Daily that together they have sold some 2,000 trainers to 40 countries since the Second World War.
“Covering all segments of pilot training, the aircraft have accumulated about five million flying hours, training almost 100,000 pilots 4 official online show daily idex.janes.com Italy bids for trainer crown over the past 40 years,” Cosentino noted. The M-346 can therefore claim to be a natural follow-on for air forces currently operating the MB-339.
This includes the Italian Air Force “…which has been closely involved in development of the M-346 and is well placed to advise any potential customers for the new trainer”, said Cosentino. In fact with the LRIP (low rate industrial production) version now under construction as the first in a batch of 12, the Italian Air Force could begin the replacement of its MB-339s, of which it has 90 examples in current service. First customer deliveries of production M-346 are expected in 2009 and they will benefit from the 600kg weight savings in this series.
However, with F-16 fighters currently in service, the UAE needs advanced jet trainers to prepare pilots for the very latest in high performance aircraft technology and naturally, AleniaAermacchi is bidding the M-346 for the task.
Furthermore, aware of the operational savings to be gained from commonality of equipment, the Italian company is carrying out studies for a combat version of the M-346.“The trainer already has seven weapon hard points and can carry a 3,000kg payload,” Cosentino declared, seeing the GCC countries as potential customers for the trainer/combat aircraft pair.
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