Leonardo Announces M-346 Block 20 Capability Enhancement Programme | Aviation

The upgrade will involve the aircraft’s core avionics, navigation/identification, mission equipment and ground training capabilities, in order to meet modern training and operational requirements.

Leonardo has just announced at Farnborough International Air Show the launch of a comprehensive capability enhancement package for the M-346 integrated training system, including the aircraft’s core avionics, navigation/identification, mission equipment and ground training capabilities. This major upgrade comes as the M-346 fleet surpassed 100,000 flight hours as well as ten years of service.

The company says the move reflects the training needs to align pilot’s skills to the evolution dictated by modern multi-domain battlefields, combat air technology, and information management. This latest development leverages the inherent growth capability embedded into the M-346 design as well as the in-service experience with multiple operators.

Both M-346 AJT (Advanced Jet Trainer) training and M-346 LFFA (Light Fighter Family of Aircraft) fighter variants will benefit from these enhancements for a wide spectrum of applications, while implying significant margin for further developments in the future. Leonardo said that ‘M-346 T Block 20’ and ‘M-346 F Block 20’ are the designations for the new standard of both…