In Galatina the first T-346A of the 61 ° Stormo

02/03/15

On Thursday 26 February, he landed on the “F. Cesari ”of Galatina, site of the 61 ° Stormo, the first T-346A assigned to the Salento Flight School.

To withdraw the new trainer of the Air Force from the AleniaAermacchi headquarters in Venegono (VA), Colonel Paolo Tarantino, commander of the Air Base, together with cap. Gabriele A., pilot test pilot of the 311st Flight Group of the Experimental Flight Department (RSV) of Pratica di Mare (RM).

The new trainer is intended for the 212 ° Flight Group of the 61 ° Stormo which will use it for phase IV training.

This is another fundamental step in the process of introducing the new Armed Force trainer within the pilot training system intended for new generation high-performance military aircraft, which will end with the actual training of the first student on the T-346A aircraft.

The phase called FOTE, Follow-on Operational Test and Evaluation, took place in May and July of last year, an activity conducted by the RSV with the collaboration of the pilots of the 212th GV and aimed at verifying the full integration of the new Lead-in. Fighter Trainer (LIFT) as part of the Integrated Training System (ITS), the integrated training system including not only the aircraft, but also the simulation and ground training systems.

The flight activity carried out up to the delivery of this aircraft was conducted using aircraft marked with temporary serial number, therefore not belonging to the 61 ° Stormo, but in charge of the RSV. In August 2014 the first qualifications in favor of the instructors of the 61 ° Stormo were concluded, in October, instead, the first manned training mission entirely belonging to the 61 ° Stormo was carried out.

Currently we are proceeding with the training of additional 212 ° Gruppo Volo instructors and the development of syllabus and training manuals.

Of Italian construction (Finmeccanica-AleniaAermacchi), the T-346A jet is the most advanced pre-operational training aircraft existing today in the world: it has technological features and performance that will allow to obtain a concrete qualitative increase in the training of pilots assigned to jets of latest generation and, at the same time, optimizing the use of resources through the migration to phase IV of a whole series of activities that are currently carried out within the Operational Conversion Units (OCU) on aircraft with the highest operating cost. In addition to the Air Force, the T-346 has already been selected by the Air Forces of Singapore, Israel and Poland.

The introduction of the T-346A aircraft represents a decisive step in consolidating the role of Lead Nation in the internationalization project, also in a European key, of the military flight training sector.