Leonardo's M-346 is a fighter trainer that represents one of the excellences of the Italian defense industry. In service with the Italian Air Force since 2015, it is also in use by the airforces of Israel, Greece, Singapore, Poland, Qatar, and Turkmenistan. A contract with Nigeria was confirmed in April, further expanding the user base. While on RAI, he co-starred in the docuseries Piloti caccia that chronicles the daily reality of the International Flight Training School in Decimomannu, a joint venture between the Air Force and Leonardo.
But there is more than just the TV debut among the challenges and opportunities facing the Italian-made trainer: from Spain, which must replace its Northrop F-5Ms by 2028, and the U.S. Navy, which is looking for a new trainer.
The Spanish case is particularly significant in the context of common European defense. Originally the program was to replace the F-5Ms and local CASA C-101 Aviojets, also still in use by the national aerobatic patrol, with a new European design: the Airbus Future Jet Trainer, AFJT. A program initially intended for the Spanish Air Force with the other two consortium members, France and Germany, as possible observers. But in the end, the AFJT did not leave the drawing board, forcing Spain to a final upgrade of the Israeli-backed F-5Ms to keep them in service until 2028. Year in which it should be replaced by a new aircraft, and there are currently three options on the table: the Leonardo M-346, the South Korean KAI T-50 and the Swedish-US Boeing-Saab T-7 Red Hawk.
Given the tight timeline, the options would seem to narrow down to the first two, as the T-7 Red Hawk made for the U.S. Air Force has yet to enter service. The first production models are expected to roll off Boeing's lines in late 2024, with entry into service delayed until 2028. Despite the program delays, Boeing and Saab are already active in the plan for possible future exports, with interest in the Red Hawk from Australia and Japan.
The Spanish choice would then be between the M-346 and T-50, replicating in some ways the 2022 challenge for a new attack aircraft for the Polish Air Force where the FA-50, a fighter variant of the T-50, and the multi-role variant of the M-346 had been compared. Although the Polish Air Force already had M-346s on the line as trainers the victory had gone to the South Korean aircraft.
On the Polish decision it should be pointed out that the one with South Korea was an integrated maxi-supply involving self-propelled vehicles, tanks, and missile systems. Both that although the T-50 and the M-346 are trainers, the FA-50 is closer to the F-16 fighter as an aircraft category: although the FA-50 is a single-engine aircraft, it is supersonic and has an integrated gun.
Finally, the then Polish defense minister had justified the diversification with a supplier outside the perimeter of the then European defense industry in the rapid timing of supply. Which at the time paid off to a certain extent: the first 12 FA-50s were yes delivered to Poland by 2023 but were grounded for three months lacking some certifications. Apparently even the original contract for deliveries did not include a flight simulator!
Spanish interest
KAI T-50s had also been talked about for Spain in the past, given South Korea's interest between 2018 and 2019 in acquiring Airbus A400M Atlas strategic transport aircraft from among those on order for Spain, giving up T-50s of their own in exchange. A hypothesis that should be definitively scrapped since in December 2023 the South Korean Air Force confirmed the order for three Embraer C-390 Millennium transport aircraft in preference to the A400M.
In short, in the challenge for the Ejército del Aire's new trainer, the T-50 and M-346 are expected to start on a par, not least because one of the pluses of Leonardo's aircraft goes by the wayside for the moment in the case of the Spanish Air Force.
The Ejército del Aire is not part of the F-35 program, although rumors to that effect resurface periodically, such as the one reported by Jane's in recent months. And one of the strengths of the M-346, also remarked on in the competition for the US Navy's new trainer, is precisely the training of pilots from an F-35 perspective. The M-346 is a complete package, not just a two-seat training aircraft as reiterated to Breaking Defense by Thomas Webster, vice president of Global Sales and Strategy at Textron Aviation Defense, Leonardo's partner in the competition for the new US Navy trainer:
“It’s not just the airplane, it’s a pull-up simulation system. It’s developed courseware. It’s a way of teaching that’s already been validated for countries that are flying the F-35 today, The strength we think we bring is that they’re going to go from contract to actually starting to turn out students much quicker than any other competitors.”
An element witnessed by that pole of excellence that is precisely the aforementioned International Flight Training School in Decimomannu, protagonist of the Rai docu-series, where pilots from airforces that do not have M-346s are also perfected: such as Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Germany and Austria. The advantage in view of the F-35 certainly a plus in the order for the US Navy, but perhaps not so relevant at the moment in the Spaniards' view.
Here come the Turks
In the Spanish challenge, there are also those who speculate on another competitor: the Turkish TAI Hürjet trainer, which, however, is still under development, having made its first flight in 2023. This is a hypothesis based on the good offices between Spain and Turkey in the naval sphere: the Spanish Navantia has built with the Turkish Sedef the amphibious assault helicopter carrier TCG Anadolu (L-400), derived from the Spanish STOVL aircraft carrier Juan Carlos I. An arrangement, however, that seems to have come to an abrupt end after for the Turkish navy's new unit, the helicopter carrier/drone carrier (and possibly aircraft carrier) TCG Trakya, Erdogan decided to proceed with only domestic industries as Spain's Huffington Post recalls.
Certainly, the challenge of the next Spanish trainer will be decisive to see if European defense will proceed in a standardization direction by giving due weight to the industry champions of EU countries, or will it be decided to proceed in a piecemeal order.
From a standpoint of prestige for the M-346, the challenge for the US Navy trainer is certainly the most relevant. The US Navy must retire its McDonnell Douglas T-45 Goshawk. embarked aircraft derived from the British BAE Systems Hawk. In service since 1991 that in recent years has faced significant fleet technical shutdowns for several days due to on-board hypoxia problems in 2017, compressor blade problems in 2022, and engine woes again in 2024.
The challenge for the new U.S. Navy trainer is expected to replicate the T-X Program short list for the U.S. Air Force trainer, which in September 2018 saw the future Boeing-Saab T-7 Red Hawk prevail over the M-346 and T-50.
In the case of the U.S. Navy trainer program, Leonardo is coming up with Textron as a partner. Textron, a defense conglomerate that controls Bell, Cessna, and Beechcraft, among many others, has more than seven decades of experience with the U.S. Navy while also supplying other training aircraft for Navy pilots. At the time of the Air Force's T-X Program Leonardo and Textron had presented themselves as rivals, with Textron proposing a training variant of its Textron AirLand Skorpion, which was not later finalized.
The U.S. Navy's Request for Information, for the Undergraduate Jet Training System program for the new trainer was issued last August 2023 and defines outline requirements for the new aircraft. Currently, Leonardo-Textron, Boeing-Saab, and Lockheed-Martin-KAI have responded. More precise requirements for the program will be defined once this preliminary phase is consolidated. The U.S. Navy contract is expected to be awarded for fiscal year 2026, so starting in October 2025.
If for the Pentagon's economies of scale, the T-7 Red Hawk would seem the favored one. Given the delays that also affect the aircraft's software, the U.S. Navy could opt for the other solutions. And while the T-50 and M-346 are essentially coeval (first flight in 2002 for the T-50, in 2004 for the M-346) the strength of the M-346 is precisely that it was developed to become a trainer for 5th generation aircraft considering also the simulation environment. Whereas the T-50 was initially conceived in a more traditional training perspective.
It is also worth mentioning how Leonardo has been able to establish itself in a difficult market such as the U.S.: the C-27J Spartan were long deployed and appreciated in Afghanistan by the U.S. Air Force, despite being later reassigned to the U.S. Coast Guard due to budget cuts. More recently AW139 helicopters, produced by Boeing as MH-139A Grey Wolf, have been chosen a critical task such as defending intercontinental ballistic missile sites.
As well, it is good to remember how South Korea, outside the perimeters of competition and state aid that European defense industries have to live with, approaches its own companies in the sector in an extremely proactive manner. It does not directly concern the future of the T-50 as a trainer, but it is May 2 news that the South Korean Ministry of Industry will inject 29 billion won, about 20 million euros, to make a single-seat variant of the FA-50. The state will cover nearly 60 percent of the development of this new variant intended to make the South Korean fighter even more attractive in the international market.
Completely different approach from the European one (just remember the 2011 "state aid" affair to the AW609). Defense spending is not only acquisitions of new weapon systems, but also investments in development, we will see if the new European Commission will go in that direction.
An essayist and popularizer, his publications include "Alessandro Blasetti. The forgotten father of Italian cinema" (Idrovolante, 2023). And with Emanuele Mastrangelo "Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia and the Hegemony of Information" (Bietti, 2013) and "Iconoclasm. The contagious insanity of the cancel culture that is destroying our history" (Eclectica, 2020).
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