Aero L-39NG completes first phase of development

[Zarvan]

The L-39NG with the modified FJ44 engine was demonstrated at Aero Vodochody's facility just outside Prague on 15 September. Source: Alan Warnes
The first phase of development work on Aero Vodochody's new generation L-39NG is complete, company officials told IHS Jane's on 15 September.

The L-39NG is powered with a new Williams FJ44-4M engine and has been under development for two years. The aircraft made its first flight on 14 September 2015, with testing of the new powerplant being completed on 12 September.

Milos Trnobransky, Aero Vodochody's design chief, told IHS Jane's, "After testing the engine, we handed it back to Williams in July to make some modifications. The engine was returned to us two weeks ago and we then flew the L-39NG with the updated powerplant on [12 September]. During the flight tests we checked out all the envelopes of the engine, which took it up to 8.5 g ."

The Williams FJ44 has been developed for the civilian light business jet market but also powers the military Alenia Aermacchi M-345 and Saab 105 jet trainers. Being non-ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations), it will not affect sales to Aero Vodochody's customers, many of which could have been subjected to such restrictions.

New president and CEO Giuseppe Giordio, who took over in May having previously served as CEO of Alenia Aermacchi for four years until 2015, said of the FJ44, "Integration of the new engine has been necessary because of support issues revolving around the L-39's original Russian-Ukrainian [Ivchenko-Progress] AI-25 engine which, over the past few years, has been troubled by the fall out between the two nations."

Another important part of recent testing has been proving the functionalities of the cockpit's new Genesys Aerosystems avionics, which includes a new multifunction display (MFD) and a head-up display (HUD).

Aero delivered 2,957 L-39s to 60 countries between 1968-97, and wants to build on that expertise, believing there is a market for about 120 of the enhanced version over the next five years.

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http://www.janes.com/article/63912/aero-l-39ng-completes-first-phase-of-development

 

[nomi007]

have no future

 

[Penguin]

have no future

It's a modernization of the L-39 Albatros trainer, which dates back to the early 1970s. To date, more than 2,800 L-39s have served with over 30 air forces around the world. That makes the Albatros is the most widely used jet trainer in the world. You would think at least some of those would need to be modernized or replaced. That is why the L-39NG project is divided into two phases. First, L-39NG upgrade program contains an installation of FJ44-4M engine and optionally the L-39NG avionics to existing L-39 Albatros. The second phase represents newly built L-39NG aircraft with the possible use of components from the previous upgrade.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_L-39_Albatros
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_L-39NG

Its bigger brothers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_L-59_Super_Albatros
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_L-159_Alca