The Czech arms export company Omnipol and the Ministry of Defense of Vietnam have signed a contract for the delivery of twelve of Aero Vodochody’s new L-39NG jet trainers.
The manufacturer Aero Vodochody has thus achieved an important milestone for the new aircraft, which is also of enormous significance for numerous Czech companies involved in the project – while corresponding efforts are progressing in Hungary and Slovakia, for example, and opportunities are still expected in Austria as well. Although no financial volume has been specified for the time being – probably several billion crowns (1 billion crowns = 38.7 million euros) – this is undoubtedly one of the largest orders placed by the Czech defense industry in recent years in the high-tech field of military aviation. Earlier “agreements” with Senegal (for four aircraft) and the enemy aircraft companies RSW Aviation (10) and SkyTech (12) have not yet led to fixed contracts, so the current leadership has in the meantime placed the main commercial focus on overhauls and modernizations of previously delivered L-39s, such as those recently concluded for Uzbekistan (Military News reported). Omnipol, together with a Hungarian investor Andras Tombor, is the future owner of Aero Vodochody and emphasizes the new contract with the words of its president Jiří Podpěra: “We are proud to announce this decisive and strategic renewed cooperation with a well-known user, which represents an important step forward for the L-39NG project.” Omnipol is aiming to increase the share entrusted to the Czech supply chain from 40 to 60 percent.
Vietnam has been an operator of Albatros aircraft for many years; a total of 31 have been delivered to the Southeast Asian country and representatives of its air force are also regularly represented at meetings of the “L-39 User Group”. An Aero employee emphasized to Militär Aktuell that although there is still a lot to be done in the course of implementation, the delivery period 2023 to 2024 is planned. In addition to the aircraft, the contract includes the training of the first pilots, ground personnel and mechanics. It also includes the delivery of a logistics package and equipment for ground-based training/simulation. It is not yet clear whether the version chosen by Vietnam will be the pure training system or the light attack variant, but in any case the L-39NG can serve in both roles in modern air forces. The avionics are tailored to the training of future 4th and 5th generation pilots and can be adapted to the requirements and cockpit design of the respective customer’s “spearhead” – something Aero says it will also inform the BMLV about. In addition, there is a range of tactical “on-board” simulation technologies that increase training efficiency.
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