Leonardo M-346 Master

Leonardo M-346 Master Story

The premium jet trainer/light attack aircraft market has grown significantly over the past few decades. This class of aircraft allows budget-conscious operators to train their pilots on state-of-the-art jets while retaining light shock capabilities in their design. However, light attack aircraft are generally tactically limited and can only be used for basic close air support, attack and air defense.

They generally lack the capabilities and facilities of their big brothers - multirole fighter jets - although they have proven to be very popular with air forces around the world. One of the contributions to the aircraft category is the new Alenia M-346 "Master", which is based on the also new Russian Yakovlev Yak-130.

The Alenia M-346 stems from an early collaboration between Italian and Russian groups in the early 1990s, when Yakovlev began developing a new advanced trainer for the Russian Air Force. The Italian Air Force is also looking for a replacement for its aging MB-339 aircraft fleet and has signed a joint development work with a Russian company to design a new advanced trainer/light attack platform based on the Yakovlev project.

The Russian prototype first flew in 1996.

By the turn of the century, the joint venture was dissolved due to design direction. Yakovlev continued to pursue the Yak 130, while Alenia developed her version along a Western-leaning line, hoping to profit from future purchases. Therefore, the Italian initiative was developed with Western avionics, technology and support for Western armaments. The Italian aircraft soon appeared in 2003 as the M-346 "Master" and made its maiden flight on July 15, 2004.

Over the next few years, the M-346 project gained more attention as it attracted interest from other global players. During this period, the landing gear was also revised, the overall structure was lightened and simplified as much as possible, and a new, more efficient air brake was introduced.

At the time of this writing (2012), the M-356 is currently in late development and the list of potential buyers continues to grow.

The Italian Air Force has committed to procure M-346 production (13 aircraft are on order) and plans to start low-rate mass production soon. The United Arab Emirates evaluated the model and committed to purchase it (an estimated 48 aircraft in total).

Likewise, the Israeli Air Force (30) and Singapore (12) have selected the M-346 as their next-generation advanced trainer. The USAF is currently in the market to upgrade its aging fleet of trainers (numbers are in the hundreds and could involve procuring more than 1,000 from any given supplier), although the M-346 option suggests that running the "T-X" program counts as long-range .

The design of the M-346 is conventional, with a tandem-seat cockpit, mid-mounted monoplane wing assemblies, and a conventional tail. The student/principal pilot sits in the front cockpit and the instructor/arms officer sits in the rear cockpit.

Visibility from the cockpit is excellent thanks to the use of a large, light-framed transparent canopy. The rear view is blocked by the raised back of the fuselage. The cockpit is located behind a short, low-profile nose cone assembly that provides excellent visibility during ground travel.

The edges of the fuselage are rounded, and the panel sides promote good aerodynamic flow. The plane is powered by two engines embedded in the fuselage and sucked in by two air intakes located on the sides of the cockpit and under each wing. The fuselage is short, terminated at the rear by a high vertical stabilizer.

The horizontal stabilizer is clearly mounted aft of the vertical stabilizer, while the engine is expelled from below and in front of the horizontal stabilizer via a simple exhaust ring. The landing gear is fully retractable and consists of a pair of single-wheel main legs and a single-wheel front leg.

The M-346 is powered by two Honeywell F124-GA-200 series low bypass turbofan engines, each producing 6,250 pounds of thrust. While the aircraft can reach speeds of Mach 1.2, it typically operates at lower speeds during normal cruise. The service cap is listed as 45,000 feet.

While the trainer version is usually practiced unarmed or lightly armed, the special Light Strike form can carry guns through a total of nine hardpoints - three under each wing, one on each wingtip, and One location on the centerline of the body. Allows up to 6,600 pounds of external storage, this includes from air-to-air missiles (mainly on wingtip mounts), air-to-surface missiles, guided munitions, conventionally thrown bombs, rocket pods, and gun pods Typical loads of . Three hardpoints are provided for storing the disposable fuel accumulator - the innermost underwing hardpoint and the fuselage centerline hardpoint. The M-346 will also have a fixed aerial refueling probe forward of the cockpit and offset to starboard.

This flexibility will allow the M-346 to perform a variety of attack missions as needed, providing essentially unlimited operational range in a given theater.

Leonardo M-346 Master Specs

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