Rome, 24 February 2016 – Finmeccanica announces the kick-off of the final assembly phase for the first two Aermacchi M-346 lead-in trainers for the Polish Air Force, at a ceremony attended by General Commander of the Polish Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Mirosław Rozanski, Brigadier General Tomasz Drewniak, Inspector for the Air Force, and Col. Paweł Smereka, Commander of the 41st Training Airbase, hosted by Filippo Bagnato, Managing Director of Finmeccanica’s Aircraft Division.
The delivery of the first two M-346 aircraft, built at Finmeccanica’s Aircraft Division facility in Venegono Superiore (Varese, Italy), is scheduled for the end of November 2016, in line with the programme’s time frame. The contract with the Polish Air Force is to supply eight aircraft as well as Ground Based Training Systems.
Signed in February 2014 with the Polish Ministry of Defence, the contact is to supply eight M-346 advanced jet trainer aircraft to replace the currently operational Communist era TS-11 Iskra. The contract also includes logistic support; a training programme for pilots and engineers; a state-of-the-art ground-based training system with dedicated classrooms and educational materials, including a Full Mission Simulator, a highly complex device able to replicate any possible operational scenario and also to be networked with real aircraft flying training missions.
The M-346 has also been ordered by Italy, Israel and Singapore, with a total of 59 M-346 aircraft ordered so far. The new Italian trainer, once developped with the OKB Yak in Russia, is the only new generation lead-in training aircraft today developped in Europe along with the turboprop driven Pilatus PC-12.
