A few days ago, the Hungarian army temporarily transferred its advanced jet pilot training to the training center jointly operated by the Italian Air Force and Leonardo on T.346 (referred to here as M-346) at the IFTS campus at Decimomannu air base in Sardinia.
“Temporarily” probably because the delivery of the twelve aircraft built by Hungary at Aero Vodochody L-39NG jet trainers (-> Hungary procures twelve L-39NG jet trainers) is to begin this year. Armaments Director Gáspár Maróth has ordered eight trainer-only versions (to replace the Zlin Z-143LSi and Z-242L propeller trainers; the old L-39s from the former GDR have been decommissioned since 2009) and had four further aircraft configured with infrared and electro-optical sensors for reconnaissance missions. However, it will be a few years before this fleet is operational. In addition, the Magyar Légierő fleet was increased by four Saab Gripen Cs in the course of the “haggling” over Sweden’s long-delayed accession to NATO, meaning that the demand for pilots has recently increased.
IFTS already has ten guest nations
Opening in 2022 (-> Ground-breaking ceremony for international pilot school in Sardinia), the IFTS pilot school currently offers space for 80 students per year. The largest customer in “Deci” is of course the Italian Air Force (AMI), but in addition to its young pilots, pilots from the UK, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Austria, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and – following the retirement of the Saab 105 there for ten years – Sweden also completed Phase IV/LIFT last year.
The facility has 22 T.346 aircraft for training – 18 of which belong to AMI and the other four to Leonardo. One of them was also at the “Airpower 2024” (-> 250,000 visitors in Zeltweg) at the Hinterstoisser airbase. A further six are owned by Qatar and also stationed at IFTS, on which only Qatari flight personnel are trained. In view of the high demand, five more T.346s were recently ordered, plus 15 aircraft, which are destined for the Frecce Triccolori.
Around 140 pilots have completed the IFTS in the past three years. Instruction is given by a mixture of civilian instructors from industry partner Leonardo-CAE Advanced Jet Training – in blue overalls – and military personnel from AMI. The Italian Air Force manages the project, decides on the curriculum and ensures the training quality and standards of the flight school. During the nine-month course, the advanced students are prepared for fourth and even fifth-generation aircraft (F-35) with a combination of live and synthetic training.
Major synergies and savings
In addition to live flying with the T.346, students can use an extensive ground-based training system that includes full mission simulators, flight training devices and computer and simulation-based training. Students can also use some of these to improve their skills in their free time. In each case, IFTS uses live, virtual and constructive training to combine the synthetic world with real tactical flying.
Thanks to the year-round good flying weather and the thousands of square kilometers of airspace to the west and east of the island, the trainee pilots can fly 30 to 40 missions per day in “real” T.346s. Added to this are the extensive simulator facilities, which enable technicians – depending on the level of training and individual skills of the pilots – to simulate a wide variety of threats and training scenarios. For example, two jets (each with two pilots) and four other pilots can fly simultaneously in two simulators against four “enemy aircraft” (each with two pilots again), for example to train in beyond visual range (BVR) air combat. This allows the flying hours of six aircraft to be saved without compromising the quality of training.
