Leonardo sees market opportunity for M-346 attack variant in Middle East

Correction: Leonardo has corrected statements made about M-346 customers during a tour of one of its facilities by Defense News, and this story has been updated to reflect that.

BEIRUT — After the first order of its fighter attack variant of the M-346, Italian firm Leonardo is marketing the fighter jet in the Middle East, industry officials told Defense News, while noting that the training version was tested in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar.

“M-346 has been tested in Kuwait under hot conditions, passing all the tests successfully, and then it was also tested with the Italian Air Force in November 2018 in Qatar,” a Leonardo official said.

Defense News spoke to the official during a tour of the company’s facilities in Venegono Superiore, Italy. Leonardo would not identify the M-346FA customer or the contract value, despite inquiries by Defense News during and after the tour.

The deal comes in the wake of increased interest for trainer jets — both those solely used for training and those able to perform close-air support missions — from Mideast countries seeking to expand their respective fighter fleets.

“There is an increasing need for trainer jets in the MENA [Middle East and North Africa] region as countries there work to expand their fighter fleets. The MENA nations have requirements for trainers also able to perform close‐air support missions," said Marco Buratti, Leonardo’s senior vice president of international marketing and strategic campaigns.

“Among the most notable examples that have chosen Leonardo’s training approach is the UAE’s national aerobatic team, Al Fursan — widely recognized as one of the best in the world and considered as a UAE national pride — which uses the Aermacchi MB‐339 aircraft,” he added. “The Emirati pilots were trained in Italy and the UAE under the supervision of the Frecce Tricolori pilots using Italian aircraft and training systems.”

Leonardo offers its trainer customers the opportunity to send personnel to its International Flight Training School, where it trains pilots in four phases: primary training/screening; basic-advanced training; lead-in to fighter training; and an operational conversion unit.

Leonardo is a member of the Eurofighter consortium, which builds the Typhoon fighter jet. Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are among those in the Gulf region who have ordered the aircraft.

Meanwhile, in Europe, Italy has joined the United Kingdom’s Tempest program for a next-generation fighter. Will the M-346 be the chosen trainer for that effort?

“M-346 demonstrated its capability as [a] trainer for Eurofighter and F-35. It is early to speak about Tempest program because we don’t know yet how it will be inserted in the combat environment," a Leonardo official told Defense News. "First, we need to understand [the] Tempest combat environment, and then we evaluate the M-346 as a trainer for the Tempest, or if in 10-15 years from now Leonardo will have to evolve the training system towards a new combat environment that require[s] new training skills.”

Agnes Helou was a Middle East correspondent for Defense News. Her interests include missile defense, cybersecurity, the interoperability of weapons systems and strategic issues in the Middle East and Gulf region.

更正：莱昂纳多公司已更正了《防务新闻》在参观其一家工厂期间发表的关于 M-346 客户的说法，本文已更新以反映这一点。

贝鲁特——据业内人士向《防务新闻》透露，意大利莱昂纳多公司在获得M-346战斗机攻击型的首笔订单后，正在中东地区推销这款战斗机，同时指出该机型的教练版已在阿拉伯联合酋长国、科威特和卡塔尔进行了测试。

“M-346 已在科威特的高温条件下进行了测试，并成功通过了所有测试；随后，它于 2018 年 11 月在卡塔尔与意大利空军进行了测试，”莱昂纳多公司的一位官员表示。

《防务新闻》在参观位于意大利韦内戈诺苏佩里奥雷的莱昂纳多公司工厂期间采访了该公司一位官员。尽管《防务新闻》在参观期间和之后多次询问，但莱昂纳多公司始终拒绝透露M-346FA的客户身份和合同金额。

中东国家为扩充各自的战斗机机队，对教练机（包括仅用于训练的教练机和能够执行近距离空中支援任务的教练机）的兴趣日益浓厚，促成了这笔交易。

“随着中东和北非（MENA）地区各国努力扩充战斗机机队，该地区对教练机的需求日益增长。MENA国家需要的教练机也能够执行近距离空中支援任务，”莱昂纳多公司国际市场营销和战略活动高级副总裁马可·布拉蒂表示。

他补充道：“选择莱昂纳多训练方法的最著名例子之一是阿联酋国家特技飞行表演队‘阿尔弗桑’（Al Fursan）。该队被公认为世界顶尖飞行表演队之一，也是阿联酋的民族骄傲。他们使用阿莱纳马基MB-339飞机。阿联酋飞行员在意大利和阿联酋接受训练，由意大利三色箭飞行表演队飞行员指导，使用意大利飞机和训练系统。”

莱昂纳多为其教练机客户提供机会，将人员派往其国际飞行训练学校，该校分四个阶段培训飞行员：初级训练/筛选；基础-高级训练；战斗机训练预备；以及作战转换单元。

莱昂纳多公司是欧洲战斗机联盟的成员，该联盟负责生产“台风”战斗机。海湾地区的阿曼、卡塔尔、科威特和沙特阿拉伯等国都已订购了该型战机。

与此同时，在欧洲，意大利加入了英国的“暴风雨”（Tempest）下一代战斗机项目。M-346会成为该项目的教练机吗？

“M-346 已证明其作为欧洲战斗机和 F-35 教练机的能力。现在谈论‘暴风雨’项目还为时尚早，因为我们尚不清楚它将如何融入作战环境，”莱昂纳多公司的一位官员告诉《防务新闻》。“首先，我们需要了解‘暴风雨’的作战环境，然后评估 M-346 作为‘暴风雨’教练机的性能，或者在未来 10 到 15 年内，莱昂纳多是否需要对训练系统进行升级，以适应需要新训练技能的全新作战环境。​​”

阿格尼斯·赫卢曾任《防务新闻》中东记者。她的研究领域包括导弹防御、网络安全、武器系统互操作性以及中东和海湾地区的战略问题。