Leonardo M-346 Thread

The success story today has an unexpected outcome:

Notice how the Greek armed services, weeks ago still unduly overlooked among Europeans just completly reshaped the Southern defence of the Non-Nato alliance of that continent (Greece, Israel, UAE that will probably aggregates more Mediterranean actors).

And amazingly the raw cost of the contract will put the M-346 in the same ballpark as the Rafale, according to the recent sale (?).
Well if you are going to get your pilots trained and your own trainers trained you might as well go to one of the best.
 
Nigeria to receive 6 M-346 this year

kind of interested if the M-346 ever went head to head with its cousin, the Yak-130. it was long assumed that they would focus on different markets, but Nigeria seems to be a place that buys east and west. their M-346 will lead into their new JF-17s

 
more good news for the M-346
another order with Elbit which seems to be related to Greece
also another undisclosed customer

 
May 31st news but not posted yet

unknown M-346 export flying around
M-346-exotic-color-scheme.jpg


based on the colors..could be
Azeri
article_5d398a6510b4d5_76892307.jpg

or Turkmen..
71_big.jpg


I put my money on Turkmen since Leonardo actually went there to promote it
 
two days ago, a video of the Turkmenistan president flying in the M-346 emerges
this also means officially, Turkmenistan was that "secret" customer. case closed


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f51lG_SH_kI


I am also surprised they went for the M-346 instead of the Yak-130. I had assumed that the two agreed, as a part of the split, to focus on different markets.
 
Following the delivery of the M-346, the Polish Air Force entered a transition phase and now, with this certification, Polish pilots will be able to complete at Dęblin all their advanced training up to the IFF phase. Notably, the training was certified also for the future F-35 pilots therefore, like their 4th gen counterparts, they will only move to the United States when ready to attend the F-35 B-Course at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. The assessment team also found room for further improvement, beginning from the number of flight simulators.

M-346_Bielik_Certification_2.jpg


 
About on par with the T-50 family:
  • M346: 153 delivered or on order across 11 operators
  • T-50 family: 272 delivered or on order across 7 operators
The number differences are quite huge to call that they are on par, imo. T-50 variant export numbers are already as much as total M-346 production and order combined. At this point they are clearly in different market segments, although their variants overlap in terms of intended roles.
 
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View: https://x.com/Bartek71065132/status/1811738762121986254?t=Bh8ygNQBf1fAI9Ca380vwQ&s=19



The pilot was clearly flying too low for that manoeuvre and didn't stand a chance of ejecting:(.

On another note the M-346 is a rather attractive looking design.
 
It is attractive aesthetically but it’s in a weird spot being two engined but not having the same latent performance of its general rivals. Are the production models even mildly supersonic like the prototypes? A version with afterburners almost seems necessary now to compete with the likes of the T-50, T-7, Hurjet, etc to offer the full performance spectrum. At that point you have a western L-15, which makes the M-346 even more ironic relative to its origins.

The M-346 as it is does have a specific place from a trainer POV. Multi-engine training and redundancy is still relevant as a light strike platform being subjected to AAA or in a potential carrier training variant.
 
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The pilot was clearly flying too low for that manoeuvre and didn't stand a chance of ejecting:(.

On another note the M-346 is a rather attractive looking design.
It´s way too early to make any definitive comment and the video quality isn´t of much help but I think the pilots wasn´t manoeuvring. I see him instead trying to recover from what looks to be a descending rolls series (intended or not (!)) that turned badly. Loss of SA probably also.

I would also guess that the pilot tried to eject in the last second before impact. At least it seems he released his hands from the stick (pitch command goes to null). He was probably unaware of his real altitude above ground.
 
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I would also guess that the pilot tried to eject in the last second before impact. At least it seems he released his hands from the stick (pitch command goes to null). He was probably unaware of his real altitude above ground.

If that's the case then he waited too long to eject and it cost him his life.
 

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But wouldn´t the 345 be a bit underpowered in the verticals for airshows?

We have a Power to Weight at TO around 0,3 to 0,4 when the 346 can double that. ;)
 
I thought the livery on the MB-339 looks much, much better ...... The M-346 underside has too much dark blue .....
 
Oh, sweet ! I wish the Patrouille de France could ditch its Alpha Jets someday...
 
I love it and glad they also chose the M-346.. quite a looker for a trainer jet
 

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