Finmeccanica: Israel selects Alenia Aermacchi Italian M-346 trainer aircraft

Finmeccanica, through its company Alenia Aermacchi, has been exclusively selected by Israel's Ministry of Defence to provide M-346 aircraft for the training of Israeli Air Force (IAF) pilots.

Tel Aviv 15 February 2012

Finmeccanica, through its company Alenia Aermacchi, has been exclusively selected by Israel’s Ministry of Defence to provide M-346 aircraft for the training of Israeli Air Force (IAF) pilots.

The M-346s, which will make the Israeli Air Force’ new trainers fleet, and will replace the TA- 4 Sky-Hawks, currently operated by IAF (Israel Air Force), will be a total of about 30 aircraft.

The official contract award is scheduled during the semester of 2012 and the airplanes will be delivered to the customer starting in the middle of 2014.

“The selection represents a huge success not only for Finmeccanica and Alenia Aermacchi but also for the entire Italian Country System”, Giuseppe Orsi, Chairman and CEO of Finmeccanica, commented. “We all put a great deal of effort into reaching this goal, both Industry and the Institutions, together with the Air Force and Diplomacy. The result is even more significant in a Country as Israel which has an advanced and recognized technology base, particularly in the Defence Sector. For Italy, continued investment in Italian technologies is the only way to guarantee a sustainable business development able to maintain our industrial capabilities and to become more competitive on international markets”.

ComFin_GaraAermacchiIsraele_16_02_12_ING.pdf M_346_ENG_2012.pdf