Italy’s International Flight Training School (IFTS) project took a step forward with the delivery of the first pair of Leonardo M-346 Masters from four aircraft that are being supplied to the project by Leonardo. The quartet will join the 18 M-346s operated by the Italian Air Force’s 61° Stormo (61st Wing) from Lecce (Galatina airport) and will form part of an innovative Public-Private Partnership (PPP). This PPP will see Leonardo and the Aeronautica Militare Italiana (AMI, Italian air force) establishing an International Flight Training School using a mix of industry and air force personnel, aircraft, and assets.
The IFTS was established under an agreement between Leonardo (teamed with Babcock and CAE) and the Italian air force that was signed in July 2018. It will officially open its doors in 2021 and will provide Phase IV/advanced lead-in fighter training (LIFT) to up to 80 pilots per year, using a staff of 45 instructors and a fleet of 22 T-346A aircraft (as the M-346 is designated in AMI service). Lecce also boasts a suite of LVC (Live, Virtual, and Constructive simulation) training systems that allow trainees on the ground to interact with pilots in the air.
The 61° Stormo has already trained pilots from a number of air forces, and its graduates include students from Austria, Greece, Kuwait, and Poland, while a new lead-in fighter training instructor pilot (LIFT-IP) course established in 2017 has hosted students or instructors from Argentina, Austria, Greece, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Poland, and Singapore.
At the launch of the IFTS, Alessandro Profumo, CEO of Leonardo, said: “Leonardo has to move from being a platform supplier to being a service provider as well. We aim to become the international flight training school for all of the fifth-generation air forces worldwide.”
Lieutenant General Enzo Vecciarelli, the Italian air force’s chief of staff, said, “We have an ambition to double the number of pilots that we train currently,” and predicted that “there will be a big demand for pilots in our allied countries all over the world. I believe that countries in the Gulf, as well as in Africa, will also be a new horizon for us.”
The IFTS is initially concentrating on Phase IV/Lead-In Fighter Training preparing pilots for conversion to the latest-generation combat aircraft such as the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Lockheed Martin F-35. While the 61° Stormo’s 212° Gruppo (212th Squadron) uses the T-346A to provide Phase IV training, the wing’s other flying squadrons (the 214° and 213° Gruppi) provide Phase II and Phase III training—currently using the T-339A and T-339C respectively, and there are plans to establish a new integrated training system based on the M-345 HET (High Efficiency Trainer aircraft, designated T-345 by the AMI). Beginning in 2020, the new trainer will progressively replace the T-339A (used for Phase II and instructor training) and the T-339C (used for Phase III training).
The IFTS could eventually be expanded further to include training pilots for helicopters and unmanned air systems, with the possible inclusion of another Italian air base.