Manufacturers of fixed-wing military trainer aircraft are battling for a slice of a continually shrinking pie, as demand is declining just when a new generation is entering the market. Competition is intense for even small procurement contracts.

One of the main reasons for the ebbing demand is the reduced number of new military pilots who need to be trained. Many of the world’s air forces are consolidating their personnel structures and shrinking their combat aircraft fleets. Meanwhile, the war on terror and consequent high tempo of operations has stretched the military capabilities of a number of nations, often leading to a shift in defense spending priorities and increasingly intense competition for funding. In this environment, procurement of new trainer aircraft is often put on the back burner.

Not all of the trends in the trainer market are negative, however, and long-term prospects are somewhat brighter. A new generation of combat aircraft is beginning to enter air force fleets, and these services’ existing trainers generally provide little in the way of systems commonality with the new advanced fighters. Pilots need to spend considerable time at the operational conversion unit level before transitioning to frontline aircraft—an inefficient and expensive process. More and more, air forces can be expected to begin turning to the new trainers, whose features include glass cockpits and embedded simulation capability. This will enable air forces to download a considerable portion of pilot training onto aircraft that are less expensive to operate. Besides cost savings, downloading also frees up aircraft capacity and provides a more seamless and efficient transition process to frontline aircraft.

The BAE Systems Hawk has been the market leader in the advanced jet trainer sector, but is being challenged by such new aircraft as the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 and the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) T-50. BAE is not taking the challenge lightly, however. The British company actively promotes the latest Hawk variant—Hawk 128—on the world market. The 128 has been selected to fill the advanced trainer requirement for the U.K.’s new Military Flying Training System program. Meanwhile, with several hundred Hawks already in military fleets worldwide, BAE has developed a number of upgrade packages.

The Hawk did suffer a pair of setbacks in 2008 when it was dropped from advanced trainer procurement contests in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. In both cases, the remaining finalists were the M-346 and T-50.

Alenia Aermacchi is finalizing a deal to supply 15 M-346s for the Italian air force. Last May, the Italian company teamed with Boeing to jointly market the M-346 as well as Alenia Aermacchi’s M-311 basic trainer. The latter is a jet-powered aircraft that often competes for sales against turboprop trainers. Boeing and Alenia Aermacchi will cooperate on marketing, sales, training and product support for the two aircraft.

KAI’s T-50 advanced trainer and its A-50 lead-in fighter trainer variant are being acquired by the South Korean air force. Lockheed Martin helped develop the T-50, and KAI and Lockheed Martin jointly market the aircraft for export sales.

Other competitors on the advanced trainer market include the Guizhou FTC-2000 and Hongdu L-15 from China, Aero Vodochody L-159 from the Czech Republic, and RAC MiG MiG-AT and Yakovlev Yak-130 from Russia.

The U.S. Air Force is not in the market for a new advanced jet trainer and recently completed upgrading its fleet of Northrop Grumman T-38s for continued service at least into the 2020s. However, signs are emerging that the service is considering accelerating the replacement of T-38s by at least a couple of years, due in part to the challenges of training pilots for such new fighters as the F-22 and F-35.

Basic/primary training is often performed in turboprop aircraft. Some of the leading turboprop-powered trainers are the Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano, Hawker Beechcraft T-6A/B Texan, KAI KT-1 and Pilatus PC-21. The Super Tucano is a new variant of Embraer’s EMB-312 Tucano and was recently selected to fill the Chilean air force’s 12-unit basic trainer requirement. Hawker Beechcraft’s T-6A/B is in production for the USAF/Navy Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS) program.

The KT-1 has entered service with the air forces of Indonesia and South Korea. The KAI aircraft was chosen in 2007 to fill a Turkish air force requirement for a new basic trainer; up to 55 KT-1s (40 firm and 15 options) will be acquired. Pilatus’s PC-21 has been selected to fill trainer requirements of the Swiss air force (six aircraft) and the Republic of Singapore Air Force (19 aircraft).

Pistons also have a role in the military training market, and examples include the Alenia Aermacchi SF-260, Grob G 120A and Slingsby T67 Firefly. The French air force recently took delivery of 18 G 120As, and will use them for training tasks previously carried out on more expensive aircraft such as AlphaJets. In mid-2008, Alenia Aermacchi received a contract to supply 18 SF-260s for the Philippines air force. These will be assembled locally by Aerotech Industries Philippines Inc.