M-346 ADVANCED TRAINER JET TO DEBUT IN GREECE

An Italian Air Force Μ-346 will be on display at the Athens Flying Week 2018.

M-346 advanced trainer jet to debut in Greece.

This September, Greece's biggest air show, the Athens Flying Week (AFW), will be taking off, for the third year in a row, from Tanagra Air Base, reaffirming its title of Southeast Europe's best Air Show, now an institution in the international aviation community.

On 22 and 23 September, the public will be able to admire a great show in the air and on the ground that includes several fighter jets as the F-18 Hornets from Spain and Switzerland. During the recent years the AFW has offered the public great surprises as the first performance in Europe of the Egyptian "Silver Stars" Demo Team (See the report here). This year's edition will continue this great trend thanks to the debut of the M-346 advanced trainer jet at the event, as well as on Greek soil.

The audience will have the opportunity to enjoy up-close an M-346 belonging to the 61st Training Wing (61 Stormo) of the Italian Air Force in the static area. The advanced trainer aircraft is operated in Italy by the 212 Squadron to cover Phase IV of fighter pilot training.

According to Leonardo, the M-346 is the most advanced trainer aircraft available on the market today and the only one specifically designed to prepare pilots for high performance new generation aircraft. Since 2013, the M-346 is in service with the Air Forces of Italy, Republic of Singapore and Israel, and more recently it was adopted by the Polish Air Force that signed a contract for 8 aircraft in 2014 and 4 more in 2018.

Greece is showing great interest in Leonardo's trainer jet and we believe it has a very good chance of joining the Greek Air Force fleet within a few years.

Written by Matteo Sanzani

Image: Leonardo