Want a training aircraft? Then Aermacchi has them in all shapes
and sizes, and with all sorts of power plants. A sizeable selection
of the company's stable is on show in the static park this week,
starting at the low end of the market with the SF-260E, a piston-engined,
260 hp lightplane, originally from SIAI-Marchetti, which optionally
packs a COIN-sized punch with gun pods and similar weapons. It
is also available in turboprop guise, paralleling the slightly
larger Redigo, a Finnish product which Aermacchi bought-in to
expand its product range.
As for jets, Aermacchi can offer the S211, an aircraft that also
came with the SIAI-Marchetti acquisition. Although out of production
for more then a decade, it continues to be promoted and Aermacchi
is offering an upgrade for the production machines delivered to
Singapore and the Philippines. The aircraft here, equipped with
an EFIS and registered I-JPAT, reveals its unsuccessful contention
in the early-1990s USAF/Navy JPATS competition, eventually won
by the Beech T-6 Texan II (which is also on show in production
form).
The manufacturer is anticipating more success with the latest
fleet addition, the M-346. A considerably upgraded and 'Westernised'
Yakovlev 130, the M-346 at Le Bourget is a model of the real thing,
the prototype having only been rolled-out at Venegono, Italy,
on June 6. It is expected to contend in the 'Eurotraining' competition,
which promises rich rewards for the successful provider of a training
system for most of the major European air arms.
Not to be forgotten is the venerable MB-339, still in production
for the Italian Air Force, which is receiving the last of a batch
of 30 aircraft with full-digital cockpits to augment its earlier
acquisitions, including the mounts of the Frecce Tricolori
aerobatic team. The MB-339CD on show here, the 21st of this batch
and the sixth Lot 2 machine, has managed to be assigned the perfect
display identification number by the Salon organizers, and its
fuselage is prominently marked '339'.
