China’s National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation (CATIC) is displaying a pair of Hongdu L-15A advanced trainers at the Dubai Airshow. One aircraft sits on static display at the company’s outside exhibition, and the other participates in the flying display, exhibiting its maneuverability and the ability to generate different smoke colors from its two engines.
The aircraft arrived in Dubai after flying from Xinjiang in China with a refueling stop in Pakistan. When they arrived they bore serials L15 64 and L15 65 (based on their construction numbers), although the nomenclature was subsequently removed.
Local interest in the L-15 is high. The UAE signaled its intention to order the type to replace its aging BAE Systems Hawk advanced trainers in February 2022. A year later China’s AVIC announced a UAE order for 12, plus 36 options, at the IDEX exhibition in Abu Dhabi. The aircraft are subsonic L-15As with AI-222-25 non-afterburning engines. Speculation has surfaced that the first 12 are intended for service with the UAE’s Al Fursan aerobatic display team to replace the Leonardo MB-339s currently in use.
Initially developed with assistance from Russia’s Yakovlev OKB, which designed the similar Yak-130, the L-15 has gone in limited numbers to China’s air force with the local designation JL-10. Zambia served as the first export customer, buying six, and Ethiopia has also reportedly ordered the type for light fighter duties. Light fighter/attack versions can be powered by afterburning AI-222-25K engines.
The L-15’s engines initially came from the OEM, Ukraine's Ivchencko-Progress. Supplies to China have ceased due to political issues associated with the Russian invasion, but China reportedly has developed a replacement.