Airforces

NEWS

12 // MAY 2018 #362 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com

Continental Europe

Final T-346 delivered to Italian Air Force

THE LAST of 18 T-346A jet

trainers for the Aeronautica

Militare (AM, Italian Air

Force) was officially

handed over at Leonardo’s

Aircraft Division site at

Venegono Superiore,

Varese, on February

2 7. The aircraft, T-346A

MM55224 ‘61-23’, was

delivered to 212° Gruppo

of 61° Stormo at Lecce-

Galatina, Lecce. Since

receiving the T-346A , the

unit has trained Italian

fighter pilots as well as

personnel from countries

including the US, Spain,

France, Austria, the

Netherlands, Poland,

Singapore, Argentina,

Greece and Kuwait.

The Italian government

ordered its 18 T-346As in

three batches. A formal

announcement of the first

firm order for six aircraft

was made in November

2009. This €220m
      purchase also included
      related flight simulators.
      The first pair of aircraft
      was delivered, for test and
      evaluation, in mid-April


2010. Aircrew training with
      the T-346A commenced
      at Lecce in October


2011. A new contract
      was signed in December
      2014, for the purchase of
      three additional aircraft.
      In March 2016 another

contract was signed for

a further nine aircraft.

The first two examples of

the third batch (MM

and MM55224) were

delivered in December

2016, followed by five

aircraft in 2017 and the

remaining two this year

• T-346A MM
  ‘61-22’ was flown to
  Lecce on January 11.

Below: T-346A MM55224 ‘61-23’ of 212 Gruppo/61° Stormo at Venegono in February

wearing a temporary serial (MT = Matricola Temporanea). The aircraft performed

its acceptance fl ight with the Reparto Sperimentale Volo (RSV) fl ight test centre on

February 15. Marco Muntz

Dutch

defence

plans

outlined

THE DUTCH Ministry

of Defence published a

White Paper on March

26 outlining its plans

for the armed forces in

the coming 15 years.

While many plans for

the Royal Netherlands

Air Force (RNLAF)

were previously known,

there were some new

announcements.

Most notable is the

replacement, in 2022,

of the single Gulfstream

IV VIP jet operated

by Eindhoven-based

334 Squadron and the

confirmation that 336

Squadron’s C-130H/

C-130H-30 Hercules

fleet will be replaced

from 2031 on.

The current fleet of

13 PC-7 Turbo Trainers

of the Woensdrecht-

based 131 EMVO

Squadron is slated for

replacement in 2026-27.

Service introduction

of four medium-

altitude, long-endurance

unmanned aerial vehicles

(UAVs) with Leeuwarden-

based 306 Squadron is

now foreseen in 2021-

22. The favoured type for
    this is the MQ-9B Reaper,
    but a final decision is
    expected later this year.
    The White Paper also
    confirms that the RNLAF
    will see its fleet of 28
    AH-64D Apaches – flown
    by 301 Squadron at Gilze-
    Rijen Air Base and 302
    Squadron at Fort Hood,
    Texas – remanufactured
    to AH-64E Apache
    Guardian configuration
    in the 2022-24 timeframe
    (see Dutch Apaches
    to be remanufactured
    to AH-64E standard,
    April, p11).
    Other projects included
    in the plan but made
    public earlier are the
    delivery of 14 new
    CH-47Fs to replace the
    current 11 CH-47Ds of
    298 Squadron at Gilze-
    Rijen and modification
    to the same Multi-Year
    II Common Avionics
    Architecture System (MYII
    CAAS) standard of the
    current six CH-47F(NL)
    aircraft operated by 298
    Squadron and Fort Hood-
    based 302 Squadron,
    scheduled for 2020-22.
    Kees van der Mark

Falcon Epicure to replace C-160G Gabriel

THE FRENCH Ministry
of the Armed Forces
has awarded Dassault
Aviation with a contract
to integrate the Thales
Capacité Universelle
de Guerre Electronique
(CUGE, Universal Electronic
Warfare Capability) on
three Falcon bizjets under
the Epicure programme.
The announcement
was made on March 1
and came a day after
Florence Parly, Minister
of the Armed Forces,
convened a Ministerial
Investment Committee
to launch development

of the programme.

The CUGE will provide

a new sensor to the

French forces, allowing

simultaneous interception of

radio and radar emissions.

Beginning in 2025, the three

new aircraft will replace

the Transall C-160 Gabriel

currently in use with the

Armée de l’Air (French

Air Force). Previously, it

had been expected that

only two aircraft would

be acquired for the role.

Finnish Air Force Hornet tests AGM-158 JASSM

THE ILMAVOIMAT (Finnish

Air Force) has conducted

two successful live firings of

the Lockheed Martin Joint

Air-to-Surface Standoff

Weapon (JASSM). They

were launched over a

test range near Naval Air

Weapons Station (NAWS)

China Lake, California,

on March 5 and 9.

According to a press

release from the Ilmavoimat:

“The firings were conducted

successfully with both

missiles destroying their

designated training

targets on the firing range.

Successful firings proved

the technical functionality

of the JASSM missile

system and its task planning

software in the Finnish

Air Force F/A-18 fleet.”

Last autumn, a series

of trials demonstrated

the JASSM functionality

of the on-board software

on the Finnish F/A-

fleet. The recent live

firings prove the chain

of systems required for

JASSM operations and will

lead to a declaration of full

operational capability (FOC).

The AGM-158 JASSM

was selected for integration

on the Hornet during the

Mid-Life Upgrade (MLU)

2 programme that ran

from 2010 to 2016.

The Ilmavoimat detached

two F/A-18Cs to NAWS

China Lake in 2016 for

JASSM integration work.

The aircraft will be ferry-

flown back to Finland

in mid-May, after test

flights at Naval Air Station

Patuxent River, Maryland

to prove the functionality

of other F/A-18 systems.

Above: An artist’s impression of the Falcon Epicure strategic intelligence-gathering platform,

apparently based on the Falcon 7X. Dassault Aviation

Ilmavoimat