Twin tail L-15 Trainer Concept Unveiled

Military blogs reported of China's twin tail L-15 concept. If underway, such a project would extend the L-15's potential and possibly turn it into a "mini fighter" or a close support aircraft. It would also be a good choice as a fighter trainer or a Marine Corps attack aircraft for carrier groups.

Huitong briefly mentioned that an attack aircraft based off the L-15, called the Q-6, is under development. It is not sure if this is related.

India’s IJT Training Aircraft Crashes, Pilots Safe

A crash took place an Indian Air Force training aircraft in the Udedurgam Reserve Forests in the Khrisnagiri District, on Thursday evening. The pilot and the co-pilot have ejected themselves from the flight, eye-witnesses said. According to the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bangalore, the incident took place during flight-testing.

The aircraft, which had burst into flames, crashed about 35 km away from Hosur.

With the help of parachutes, the two flight tenants – two squadron leaders – were able to land away from the crash site, about 650 ft. Further.

They weren’t able to land securely however. They were both wounded. One of them sustained a harsh leg injury, and the other became comatosed. With the help of an IAF helicopter, they were taken to Bangalore.

At Bangalore, a person identification exposed that the pilot and co-pilot were Squadron Leader Bathra and Squadron Leader Mathu.

Italy's First T-346A Trainer Makes Flight Debut

Italian air force’s first T-346A advanced jet trainer made a 40min debut flight from Alenia Aermacchi’s Venegono production site on 31 March, with the aircraft due to enter service soon.

During its first flight, the M-346 variant reached an altitude of 15,000ft (4,570m), and underwent checks on its handling and systems functionality, the company says. The aircraft had been rolled out at Venegono last December, along with a second example.

“The aircraft demonstrated its excellent characteristics in terms of handling, energy and man-machine interface,” says Alenia Aermacchi chief test pilot Quirino Bucci.

Alenia Aermacchi says the remaining Italian aircraft under contract are now in build on its new M-346 final assembly line at Venegono, along with 12 more for launch export customer Singapore.

Italy has so far signed for six of the aircraft from a planned acquisition of 15 to be used at the air force’s training school at Lecce air base.

A T-100 version of the M-346 is being proposed as a potential solution to the US Air Force’s T-X trainer requirement, and Alenia Aermacchi also says that “the air forces of several nations have expressed great interest in this aircraft”.

New Opportunities Mature for Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Advanced Trainer

One of the most modern Advanced/Lead-In Fighter Trainer in productiontoday, the M-346 from Alenia Aermacchi is gathering momentum to becomethe leading trainer preparing future combat pilot to fly the latestgeneration fighters. On the way, it will have to fight tough opponents,from the BAE Systems’ Hawk– being the market leader in the past 35 years, and still going strongwith the latest AJT version, and Korean T-50 Golden Eagle, eagerlypromoted by Korea and U.S. based Lockheed Martin, still awaiting theinternational breakthrough.

While offering high performance and good flying qualities thatclosely match modern single-seat fighters, M-346 is offering highsafety standards and reduced acquisition and operating costs of atwin-seat trainer. The aircraft can also carry weapons and stores,supporting advanced training and secondary operational missions as alight attack aircraft. The structural design includes nine hard-points,and has provisions to install and integrate special equipment.


Sofar the M-346 was selected by three countries – Italy, UAE andSingapore. The Italian Air Force has also selected the aircraft for itsIntegrated Training System (ITS), comprising 15 aircraft. In the UnitedArab Emirates the M-346 will provide the core of their new training airfleet, training pilots to fly the F-16 Block 60 fighter. The UAE intendto buy 48 aircraft, 20 to be configured with secondary light attackcapability. Singapore has also selected this model for their FighterWings Course (FWC) requirement. The new trainers will replace thecurrent fleet of two-seat A-4 Skyhawk advanced trainers, trainingSingaporean pilots to fly the RSAF F-16 Block 52 fighters.

In a joint initiative promoting the aircraft within the Europeancommunity, EADS Defence and Security (DS) and Finmeccanica have teamedto propose the M-346 for the Advanced European Jet Pilot Training(AEJPT) program, replacing the 40 year old Alpha Jet still in servicewith nine European air forces. M-346 is offered by this multi-nationalteam as the ‘All European’ trainer, meeting the requirements of theAEJPT nations and the European Defense Agency (EDA) in terms ofcapabilities, flexibility, training effectiveness, interoperability,geographic allocation and industrial work share. The team intends toinvolve all other European firms from AEJPT member countries in thetraining service and base operating activities.

Another opportunity for the M-346 is the Israel Air Force, seekingto replace upgraded single-seat operational trainers such as the A-4Skyhawk and Block 10+ F-16A Falcon. The two finalists considered by theIsrael Air Force are the M-346 and the K-50 proposed by a KoreanAerospace (KAI) and Lockheed Martin. Israel Aerospace Industries andElbit Systems have also reached an agreement supporting the platformselected by the IAF with full training and logistical package. Bothcompanies are already providing such services supporting lead-intrainers, advanced trainers and simulator farms operated by the IAF.

The latest prospect is Poland – which published this week aninternational tender for the delivery of the Lead-In Fighter Trainer(LIFT) – as part of an Integrated Aviation Personnel Training System,to include 16 jet trains, training and logistical support. Polandexpects the bids by October 4th, 2010. Potential bidders expected tosubmit offers are Italian Alenia Aermacchi of the Finmeccanica group,the company brought its latest trainer, the M-346 to MSPO, Poland’sannual defense exhibition.  Finmeccanica has set its eyes on the Polishopportunity for several years, with the M-346 participating inevaluations in Poland and Polish airshows and events since 2006.

Both M-346, Hawk AJT and T-50 are expected to compete for theworld’s largest opportunity for jet trainers – the USAF trainerreplacement competition (T-X). BAE Systems has already announced itsplans to compete, the likely opponent is Lockheed Martin, teamed withKAI on the T-50. As for Finmeccanica, the Italian group is expected toteam with a U.S. group to effectively compete with these two giants.Among the candidates are L-3 which already participates with Alenia onthe C-27 program.

Russia will supply Su-30 Flanker fighters and Yak-130 Mitten trainer/light attack jets to Algeria in 2011.

Russia will supply Su-30 Flanker fighters and Yak-130 Mittentrainer/light attack jets to Algeria in 2011, the deputy head of theRussian Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation, VyacheslavDzirkalin, said.
"The delivery of Su-30s and Yak-130s [to Algeria] is due to begin next year, this is no military secret," Dzirkalin said.

Earlier in April, the head of Russian Technologies stateCorporation, Sergei Chemezov, in an interview with the Novaya Gazetaweekly said Russia would ship to Algeria "a party of modern Russianfighters" at a price of about $1 billion.
Dzirkalin did not specify the number of aircraft to be delivered to Algeria.
Speaking about Russian-Algerian Navy partnership, Dzirkalin saidthat "636 series diesel submarines are being repaired and modernized,but the Algerian side has not stated anything on the purchase of thenew subs."
The 636 Kilo diesel-electric submarine is a more advanced version ofa 877 Paltus sub. The Chinese Navy has two Russian Kilo submarinesbuilt at one of the leading submarine shipbuilding companies, AdmiraltyShipyards in St.Petersburg.

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