Italy happy to be back in Slovakia at SIAF Air Show!

Rome  02 September 2021 17:40

The famous Italian national aerobatic team “Frecce Tricolori” will greet Slovakia with a fly passage over Bratislava on Friday morning at 11:30

Traditionally in force for the main Slovakian air event, a wide Italian presence is confirmed to be back next week for the Slovak International Air Fest at the Malacky Air Base.
Italian Air force will showcase both in static and flight display the Eurofighter Typhoon, the most performing European air supremacy aircraft, backbone of NATO air policy and European skies protection; the unrivalled maneuverability of C-27J Spartan aircraft and the M-346 Advanced Jet Trainer aircraft.

This last one is today the most advanced high-performance training platform on the market, already in use by several International Customers and operated by the Italian Air Force for the Phase IV and LIFT training at the “International Flight Training School (IFTS). The IFTS is the result of a strategic collaboration between the Italian Air Force and Leonardo, that created an advanced flight training center in Italy.

This initiative is an international benchmark for military pilots’ training, particularly in the advanced phase of training future fighter pilots capable of satisfying the growing demand of partner countries for the training of their pilots to the highest standards.

The “lion share” of the Italian presence will be back in the hands of Italian Air Force’s aerobatic team Frecce Tricolori, in Slovakia to emotion the crowds just before celebrating their 60th anniversary back in Italy, wearing therefore special liveries of each of their tails.

The Italian representative will be completed by Leonardo, already supporting the Slovakian tactical transportation and special missions need with the C-27J Spartan of the Slovak Air Force, and interested in offering the best solution for the Slovakian training needs as well.

Leonardo’s solutions, based on a full system integration between the state of the art ground based training system and the M-345 or M-346 aerial components, can perfectly, safely and affordably transform dreamers into fighter pilots. The dual engine M-346 is the most advanced solution available today for the LIFT (Lead in Fighter Training) phase, already successfully training pilots destined to latest versions of F-16 as well as F-35 JSF fighters for the Air Forces of Poland, Israel and Singapore.

The new single engine M-345 has born to support the whole pilot’s transition from screeners up to Advanced/LIFT phases with different fallout on OCU downloading compared with M-346.

Leonardo considers the innovative dual-role jet trainer M-345 as ideal solution to Slovakian Air Force’s future fighter pilots training maximizing the cost-efficiency ratio and reducing the entire time required to train pilots.
Its performance allows the most demanding mission types in a training syllabus, delivering high quality training at significantly lower cost.

The training system based on M-345 benefits from experience with the M-346, including Live Virtual Constructive (LVC) capability. Thanks to the on-board Embedded Tactical Training System (ETTS) and real-time data link, pilots in flight (Live) can run complex missions together with pilots seating inside simulators on the ground (Virtual) and Computer Generated Forces (CGF, or Constructive), in a simulated operational-like scenario including threats and targets.

In its Multirole Armed Trainer configuration, the M-345, is ideally suited to be an effective light combat solution in evolving operational scenarios, able to carrying out operational roles and capable to employ a wide range of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons.

M-345 features an innovative approach in the whole aircraft system, fully conceived for efficiency: “designed for maintenance” reduces on-ground support, presents great accessibility of the on-board systems and the benefits of the Health and Usage Monitoring System (HUMS), to optimize the maintenance work by eliminating unnecessary interventions. It is also well suited to be supported in cooperation with local defence industry, in a business model open to the evaluation of any industrial synergy with the different local realities, targeting an effective response to the customer.

Caption: MB-339 PAN Frecce Tricolori
Credits: Italian Air Force