The first M-346 advanced trainer for the Israeli Air & Space Force was rolled out yesterday in a ceremony held at Alenia Aermacchi’s plant in Venegono Superiore, Italy. The first ‘Master’ to the Israeli Air Force is scheduled for the summer of this year. When it enters service the new trainer will be called ‘Lavie’. The roll-out ceremony was attended by officials from the Israeli Ministry of Defence, Israeli Air & Space Force, Italian institutional key representatives, as well as representatives from Alenia Aermacchi and other industrial partners.
The roll out comes less than two years after Alenia has signed the contract with the Israel MOD. The program is conducted under an industrial collaboration package agreed between Italy and Israel, which also includes Alenia Aermacchi’s industrial counterparts, TOR and Honeywell.
The M-346 ‘Master’ has also been recently ordered by Poland that becomes the fourth customer of the aircraft after Italy, Singapore and Israel. A total of 56 M-346 have been ordered so far. The aircraft is already in service with the Italian and the Republic of Singapore Air Forces.
