{"id":3073,"date":"2017-01-07T00:34:33","date_gmt":"2017-01-07T03:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/?p=3073"},"modified":"2017-01-07T00:40:51","modified_gmt":"2017-01-07T03:40:51","slug":"french-air-force-selects-pilatus-pc-21-as-future-lead-in-fighter-trainer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/2017\/01\/07\/french-air-force-selects-pilatus-pc-21-as-future-lead-in-fighter-trainer\/","title":{"rendered":"French Air Force selects Pilatus PC-21 as future Lead-in Fighter Trainer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paris, France, 30 December 2016 \u2014 The French Air Force (Arm\u00e9e de l’air fran\u00e7aise), one of the world’s most professional air arms, has finally opted for the Pilatus PC-21 training system to replace during next decade part of its present fleet of ageing Alpha Jet advance trainers mainly used for advanced and weapon training. A total of 17 PC-21s will be used to train future military pilots who will transfer to the Alpha Jet prior to their conversion on to the Dassault Rafale, a combat aircraft due to become by the end of this next decade the sole fighter aircraft type of the French Air Force.<\/p>\n

The contract signed on last 30 December 2016 by the French Air Force involves Babcock Mission Critical Services France (BMCSF), with Pilatus as a sub-contractor, in which role the PC-21 and other ground-based training material will contribute to completion of the overall contract. Only three lead-in fighter trainers were being considered by the French Air Force : besides the Swiss PC-21,the Italian M-345 HET (High Efficiency Trainer) from Leonardo-Finmeccanica and the Czech L-39NG from Aero Vodochody (see photos below).<\/p>\n

In addition to the Swiss Air Force, France is now the second European nation to opt for the PC-21 already recognised as one of the world’s most advanced, most efficient integrated training system. Pilatus\u2019 newest turboprop product, the PC-21, has been developed and certified as a completely new training system with the objective of meeting the expectations of modern air forces over the next 30 years, both in terms of capability and life-cycle cost.<\/p>\n

The 3,000 kg PC-21 has a superior aerodynamic and acrobatic (+8\/-4 g-loads) performances when compared with any other turboprop trainer on the market, and for the French Air Force expert examinators is considered a more powerful, flexible and cost-effective integrated training system than any other jet or turboprop trainer extant; not to mention a life-cycle support cost largely equal to current turbo-prop benchmarks like the T-6 Texan II or the EMB-314 Super Tucano.<\/p>\n

\"nws_dfs_170105_01-002\"<\/a>
Other aircraft pre-selected by the French Air Force to become the favourite LIFT of the 21st Century were the Italian M-345 and the Czech L-39NG. However the final choice was made more on the very modern cockpit configurable system of the PC-21 than any other consideration. \u00a9 Leonardo & Aero Vodochody<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paris, France, 30 December 2016 \u2014 The French Air Force (Arm\u00e9e de l’air fran\u00e7aise), one of the world’s most professional air arms, has finally opted for the Pilatus PC-21 training system to replace during next decade part of its present fleet of ageing Alpha Jet advance trainers mainly used for advanced and weapon training. A<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-defense"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3073"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3076,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3073\/revisions\/3076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}