PARIS — France has invited manufacturers to compete to replace the country's Alpha jet trainers, with a formal request for proposals (RFP) expected by year's end, officials said at the Paris Air Show on Tuesday.
An Italian industrial source said that Alenia Aermacchi had been asked for information in April about its under-development M-345 jet trainer, and had submitted its candidacy on June 1. A formal RFP was due in the autumn, he said.
The potential order could be 20 to 25 aircraft plus ground training systems and 12,000 flight hours a year, the source said.
Czech firm Aero Vodochody is also set to compete with its New Generation L39, an update of its L39 trainer, and expects an RFP "at the very end of the year," an official said in Paris.
A spokesman for the French Ministry of Defence declined to comment when asked about the pending competition.
Other aircraft likely to compete are the Pilatus PC21 and the Beechcraft T6.
Finmeccanica unit Alenia Aermacchi has brought a simulator for its M-345 to Paris. The aircraft is being developed with the assistance of the Italian Air Force, which would use it to replace its MB339 and to act as a lead-in to Alenia's M-346, which the Air Force has already acquired.
Email: tkington@defensenews.com
Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.
