ROME — Italy’s Leonardo is talking up the European pedigree of its M-346 jet trainer after British newspapers claimed it was based on a Russian design.
British tabloids made the allegations after reports that the M-346 was being considered as a replacement for aging BAE Hawk T1 jets flown by the U.K.’s Red Arrows display team.
Leonardo worked jointly on the design of a jet trainer with Russian firm Yakovlev from 1993 to 2000 before the team-up was dissolved and each firm went on to produce their own trainers.
That did not stop the UK Sun newspaper reporting the M-346 was “Russian designed” in an article titled “Air Farce” on Monday. The daily quoted James Cartlidge, the defense spokesman for the UK’s Conservative opposition party saying, “When the Red Arrows perform their brilliant air displays, their red, white and blue vapor trails represent the Union Jack — not the Russian tricolor.”
As other tabloids picked up the story, British prime minister Keir Starmer was asked on Monday to guarantee that the Red Arrows’ next jet would not be designed by Russia.
“I can give you that guarantee – it’s very, very important that we don’t have Russian influence in Red Arrows or anything else for that matter,” said.
A spokesman for Starmer said there was no procurement plan in place to replace the Hawks.
Leonardo fought back, claiming, “The M-346 was designed, developed and produced in Europe to the most stringent NATO standards.” The Italian firm pointed out that pilots from around Europe, as well as the U.K., have already trained on the jet in Italy.
Aermacchi, the Italian jet trainer builder later purchased by Leonardo, racked up 300 flights while working on a prototype jet trainer with Russia’s Yakovlev.
But in 2000 the firms ended their collaboration when Yakovlev refused to consider using a U.S. Honeywell engine.
“There was a total disagreement – the Russians would not accept an American engine on a Russian military plane,” said Paolo Mezzanotte, who worked at Aermacchi at the time.
When the firms went their separate ways, Italy built the M-346 while Yakovlev built the Yak-130.
“The Russians went on to copy the Honeywell engine after the split, ironically producing it in Ukraine,” Mezzanotte said.
He said that the outside form of the two aircraft was similar, but the similarities stopped there.
“The manufacturing technology, the general systems, the mission systems, the propulsion and the flight control system on the M-346 is totally different. Italy did acquire the Yakovlev documentation about the plane but then redesigned it completely,” he said.
“Yakovlev had great engineers but their manufacturing at the time was at the level of Italian manufacturing in the 1950s,” he added.
Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.
