The Austrian Armed Forces is purchasing new M-346FA jet trainers from the Italian manufacturer Leonardo. In the
After the partnership with Yakovlev ended, Aermacchi (now Leonardo) focused heavily on optimizing the adopted design to meet the requirements of the Advanced European Jet Pilot Training (AEJPT), which was increasingly being discussed and negotiated. Based on the adopted aerodynamic and structural design, the prototype in production was quickly filled with Western components.
Engines
The engine chosen was the F124-GA-200 twin-shaft turbofan from Honeywell. Three stages with titanium blades are mounted on the low-pressure shaft. An overall pressure ratio of 2.5:1 is achieved in the low-pressure section, after which the air flow is divided between the bypass and high-pressure compressor at a ratio of 0.49:1. There are four axial stages and a fifth centrifugal stage on the high-pressure shaft. An annular combustion chamber is followed by a single-stage high-pressure turbine (HPT), followed by a single-stage low-pressure turbine (LPT). The HTP is cooled with air from the bypass. The engine has a two-channel Full Authority Digital Electronic Control (FADEC) system and an integrated Engine Monitoring System (EMS). The two engines are installed in the M-346 at a slight downward angle and generate a thrust component orthogonal to the aircraft axis. This configuration increases both lift and maneuverability.
The avionics package was developed in collaboration with Teleavio, Marconi Italy and BAE Systems. The M-346 is fitted with a Safran ATS 346 auxiliary power unit, which allows the engines to be started pneumatically and supplies the on-board systems with power when the engines are switched off.
In July 2003, Aermacchi becomes part of the Finmeccanica Group. The new company is called Alenia Aermacchi.
On May 17, 2005, the second prototype (SN 6963/002, Reg. CPX616, gray) flies for the first time.
In 2008, there are already machines in the “Industrial Baseline Configuration”, the first production standard. The first machine in the production standard is prototype 003 (SN 6964/003, Reg. CPX617, red). A lot happened in Italy in the almost four years between the first prototype and the first series machine.
The M-346 underwent a major overhaul with regard to the use of modern materials and production technology. The basic design was structurally optimized and the wing spars and fuselage frames were distributed more rationally. This is accompanied by the use of modern materials such as composites and titanium. The main landing gear and the air brakes are also redesigned. The number of external load stations is reduced from nine to seven. Inside, the general mission systems will be standardized – all with a view to improved maintenance. Compared to the prototype, the aircraft will be around 700 kilograms lighter and the internal fuel capacity will be increased to 2,000 kilograms.
In October 2008, Alenia Aermacchi holds an online competition to find a name for the M-346. Of the 4,000 suggestions received, “Master” wins. The winner of the competition, Mauro Petrolati, is rewarded with a flight in the aircraft.
On 18 December 2008, during the test flight program with chief test pilot Quirino Bucci at the controls, the M-346 became the first aircraft built entirely in Italy for 52 years to break the sound barrier, reaching a speed of Mach 1.15 (1,255 km/h, 678 knots) in the supersonic corridor off the Italian Riviera at an altitude of 13,700 meters.
During the test flight program, speeds of up to Mach 1.2 were achieved in inclined flight. However, production aircraft are limited to Mach 0.92. The thrust of the engines is cut off at 94 percent, as the structure is not designed for supersonic flight.
According to Leonardo, the M-346 is the most efficient training jet without afterburner and without supersonic capability, two aspects that significantly reduce operating costs. Together with the service life expectancy of at least 10,000 flight hours and 20,000 landings, the M-346 system should achieve favorable life cycle costs.
In mid-June 2009, the Italian Air Force announced at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget that it would be purchasing six aircraft with an option for nine more. On June 20, 2011, the M-346 Master received military type certification from the Directorate General for Aeronautical Armament of the Italian Ministry of Defence in Rome.
Prior to this, 180 flights with a total duration of 200 hours were carried out within five months, during which over 3,300 test points were checked. Aeronautica Militare operates the aircraft under the type designation M-346A.
Restructuring of the Italian aviation industry
On January 1, 2016, the company Alenia Aermacchi was integrated into the Aircraft and Aerostructures division of Leonardo (formerly Finmeccanica ) was merged. As a result of the concentration of the Italian aviation industry, the company SIAI-Marchetti was also initially integrated into Finmeccanica and is now part of Leonardo. The Aermacchi M-345, which first flew in the early 1980s as the S.211, originated from this merger.
Known accidents
In November 2011, prototype 001 took part in the Dubai Air Show. After the air show shortly after take-off, the aircraft crashed near Palm Deira on November 18, 2011. The two pilots, Captain Giovanni Paganini and Quirino Bucci, were able to eject using the ejection seat.
Two years later, on May 11, 2013, prototype 003 crashed in the mountains of Val Bormida in the Ligurian Apennines around 20 minutes after take-off due to technical problems. The pilot, Matteo Maurizio, was able to save himself with the ejection seat, but was seriously injured.
In both cases, the cause of the accident was kept confidential and is only known to the manufacturer and, if interested, to customers of the aircraft.
On March 16, 2022, an M-346 in presumably Turkmen livery crashes near Como, Italy. There are two pilots on board the aircraft, which has not yet been delivered and is therefore a Leonardo factory aircraft. Both eject with the ejection seat in alpine terrain. While the Leonardo test pilot, an Italian, was rescued alive, all help came too late for the trainee pilot, an Englishman.
The second loss of a production aircraft occurred on July 12, 2024, when an M-346 Bielik of the Polish Air Force, operated by 41.BLSz, crashed during a training flight for an air show at Gdynia-Babie Doly Airport (QYD/EPOK). The pilot, Major Robert Jełł, was killed.
“Eurotraining” – the end before the beginning
In 1996, a working group of air forces from twelve European countries commissioned a feasibility study for “Eurotraining” – also known as the “Advanced European Jet Pilot Training System (AEJPT)”.
The aim is to concentrate and standardize jet pilot training at two locations in order to reduce costs. Up to 160 pilots and ten weapon system operators are to go through this new school every year. The requirement for this is estimated at around 150 aircraft.
The AEJPT contract should be signed by the beginning of 2014. This would mean that the AEJPT system would achieve its first operational capability in 2017 and reach full operational capability by 2020. However, this will never happen. The interests of the individual countries are too divergent, particularly with regard to their own national aviation industries.
In 2009, the European Defense Agency (EDA) takes up the project and sends a request for information (RFI) to the industry on behalf of the participating member states.
Alenia Aermacchi (AAEM), a Finmeccanica company, and EADS Defence and Security (DS) submit a joint response based on the M-346 to the EDA in March 2010. The M-346 remains the favourite until efforts to establish a joint Eurotraining program are discontinued in 2012.
Defense News reported in December 2013: “Following the collapse of talks on a European jet pilot training program – which could have saved millions of euros – European air forces remain with NATO-school at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, either going it alone or signing bilateral agreements.”
