It has been said that while the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU) is happy with its South Korean made KAI T-50i Golden Eagle Advanced Jet Trainer/ Lead-in Fighter Trainer (AJT/LIFT), there has been indication that the aircraft might not be able to address training needs of future pilots destined to fly its yet to be procured KNAAPO built Sukhoi Su-35 Super Flanker multi role combat aircraft (MRCA).
The T-50i was developed based on the design of LockheedMartin F-16 Fighting Falcon hence it is a natural options for countries which operate the F-16 and its spin off variants including the soon to be developed KAI KF-X fifth generation fighter.
Using Western made or Western inspired AJT/LIFT platform still works well with Russian jet operators. The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) uses the Aermacchi MB-339AM to train Mig-29 pilots while Alenia MB-339CM to train Su-30MKM pilots. Despite its vintage design that stems back to the development of MB-326 jet trainer, an obviously of late 1950’s design, the adoption of open architecture and flexibility of its cockpit design means that the Italian trainers could be used to train most of the pilots that flies 4.5 generation combat aircraft.
MB-339 and its further development, the Russo-Italian Yak/AEM-130 were conceived with the realisation that the cockpit layout should be as general as possible so that any pilots could transition from it into any sorts of aircraft.
Despite both the Russians and the Italians parting ways which spawned the respective Irkutsk built Yakovlev Yak-130 (NATO Reporting Name: Mitten) and Leonardo M-346 Master, they still maintain the concept of open architecture which allows both of the aircraft to penetrate larger market.
The Yak-130 is the leading contender in the RMAF Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project, followed closely by the M-346 and the FA-50.
Yak-130 and its equivalent might soon becomes the region’s standard training platform after Myanmar and Laos proudly inducted the aircraft into their services. The Singaporean is the only operator of the M-346 in the region.
These aircraft will butt heads with the T-50/FA-50 currently in service with Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. It will all now depends on whether Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia will eventually bought the Yaks afterall.
(MFH)