Launch agreement still pending, with Swiss departure thinning project to nine nations
The stuttering pace of the Advanced European Jet Pilot Training/Eurotraining scheme could at last be poised to accelerate, with nine remaining partner nations close to signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to advance the delayed project.
The remaining partners from the once 17-nation Eurotraining initiative - Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Sweden - had expected to sign the pre-contract phase MoU in late January, but the need to prepare a Spanish translation and appoint a new steering committee chairman have caused a delay.
"Nine nations continue to look for a cost-effective European solution," says Austrian air force Col Wolfgang Luttenberger, the programme's senior steering committee member, adding: "We will soon start the pre-contract phase." Ten countries signed a European Staff Requirement for the Eurotraining system last June, after Germany downgraded its participation to observer status, and Switzerland also opted out last December.
The MoU will establish an international management structure, outline cost and workshare issues and will help prepare a request for proposals, Luttenberger says.
This will seek a new fleet of advanced jet trainers and potentially a less expensive complementary platform, plus academic services, a training management information system, logistics support and facilities management from the middle of the next decade. Alenia Aermacchi's M-346 remains the prime candidate.
Speaking at IQPC's annual Military Flying Training conference in London last week, Luttenberger said likely student numbers have now been defined, and an assessment completed of programme costs and funding mechanisms.
"The entry and exit standards have been agreed and defined," he says, with the system expected to deliver training across 17 aircrew disciplines. Partner nations can now enter the system at either the basic or advanced stage, he adds.
The system's number of candidate operating bases has meanwhile been reduced from 10 to eight, after two of the three sites proposed by Sweden were discounted. Single locations also remain under consideration in Finland, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, along with two in Greece.
Source: Flight International
