Czech L-159 jets delivery to Iraq scheduled for Sept 2014

[Stratofreighter]

http://english.cri.cn/6966/2014/04/08/2361s820962.htm

Iraq to Buy 12 Mothballed L-159s from Czech Military

2014-04-08 00:36:35

Representatives from Iraqi Defense Ministry have signed a purchase contract with Aero Vodochody on buying 12 mothballed L-159 combat planes from the Czech military on Sunday.

Penta Investments that owns Aero Vodochody confirmed the news on Monday.

The mothballed L-159s should be delivered to Iraq by September 2014 at a cost of 200 million U.S. dollars, said Martin Danko, spokesman for Penta Investments.

Former Czech chief-of-staff Jiri Sedivy said that Iraq needs combat aircraft for the training of pilots who would later fly U.S. F-16 fighter jets.

[SquAdmin]

Former Czech chief-of-staff Jiri Sedivy said that Iraq needs combat aircraft for the training of pilots who would later fly U.S. F-16 fighter jets.

I don't really get this... most of those Czech L-159's are single seat ALCA's, right? According to the wiki page only 6 L-159's are double seaters, but according to this article 12 aircraft will be transferred.

[Coati]

Pretty simple: it would apparently used as a "lead-in" aircraft to make the step from T-6 to F-16 less big. This is to let pilots use to faster aircraft before getting into an F-16. You do not need a dual for that purpose.

[SquAdmin]

You do not need a dual for that purpose.

Hmm could be, but I wouldn't know any other example of a single seat lead-in trainer. T-38, Hawk, Yak-130, L-15, Alpha Jet, etc...

[orange]

You do not need a dual for that purpose.

Hmm could be, but I wouldn't know any other example of a single seat lead-in trainer. T-38, Hawk, Yak-130, L-15, Alpha Jet, etc...

From memory:
NF-5A in the KLu, SF-5A in Spain, F-5A in Norway, F-5E in Chile, F-5A in Turkey, MiG-21PF/PFM in Romania, MiG-21PFM in Bulgaria, MiG-21F-13 in Czechoslovakia, MiG-21 in Soviet Union, Lim-6bis in Poland, A-7E/H in Greece, MiG-15bis in Albania and probably a few more.

[Coati]

Correct

Also A-4 single seaters in IDF/AF, and A-7 singles for F-117 pilots.

[Erik_7Xi]

The A-7s of the 4450th were not really lead-in trainers but were a cover-up for the F-117s at Tonopah when they were still classified.

Although single-seat jets are not your typical lead-in trainer, only the first few sorties require an instructor pilot in the rear.
Once the student has mastered the basics of the training jet, the jets are often flown solo with the instructor flying another aircraft. Once the focus shifts from becoming familiar with flying a high performance jet to the introduction of basic fighter tactics, the instructor needs to be a separate aircraft to teach the student BFM, tactical formation flying etc.

With 12 L-159s, having just 2-4 two-seat aircraft would be more than sufficient, especially if Iraqi pilots would undergo their basic jet training somewhere else.
If you look at the USAF F-16 squadrons at Luke AFB, the majority of their jets are single seat F-16Cs with each squadron only using a limited number of F-16Ds - which are often flown with an empty back seat as well. The F-16Ds are only used for the first 4 sorties, to introduce the students to the unique characteristics and capabilities of the F-16. Once the student has 'the hang of it', they will quickly start to fly solo on the F-16C and the real fighter training will commence.

[Coati]

It was both cover up and lead in for the F-117:

I think it was in late 1979 that the phase out of the active USAF fleet was in its final stages and England AFB, Louisiana, was the last A-7 wing in existence. Somewhere the decision was made that the A-7 would be an excellent lead in trainer for the F-117 pilots. One reason was that it had a lot of similar flying characteristics and cockpit workload requirements like the F-117. It would also provide an airframe that would provide meaningful flight training and currency while the F-117 fleet was being built at a rate of four per year. A transfer program was established and the A-7Ds began arriving at Nellis. To explain the existence of the 4450th and the squadron of A-7 Corsairs to the public the “white” world.

http://www.f117sfa.org/sfa_newsletter/N ... 011-09.pdf

[Stratofreighter]

http://praguemonitor.com/2014/04/09/ln- ... al-reasons

Planned L-159 sale to Iraq may fail for several reasons
9 April 2014

Prague, April 8 (CTK) - The planned sale of the redundant L-159 combat planes to Iraq may fail for three reasons:
the Czechs may not be able to quickly deliver the planes,
the Czech military may consider the sale unprofitable,
and a new Iraqi government may reject the sale, daily Lidove noviny (LN) writes yesterday.

The aircraft producer, Aero Vodochody, and Iraqi officials agreed on the sale of 12 old L-159s for $200 million on Sunday, the paper writes.
Iraq wants to get the light combat planes by September.

The Czech military bought 72 L-159s subsonic fighters in the late 1990s, but it had no use for half of the aircraft.
As a result, 36 of them have been mothballed.

Twenty-four of the mothballed planes can be prepared relatively soon for sale, LN writes.

However, half of these 24 old L-159s is reserved for the U.S. Draken International company, with which the Czech Defence Ministry has been negotiating for several months.

The Iraqi military thus could get 12 planes, but Iraq wants two of them to be in a two-pilot version for its training.

This means that the Czechs need to rebuild four L-159s and it is unclear what planes could be used for this purpose, the paper writes.

The paper says Penta might have released information on the sale of L-159s in order to make Aero Vodochody seem a more attractive company.

The price of the 12 old L-159s is $200 million, or about four billion crowns according to LN's sources.
But the profit of the Czech Defence Ministry would be markedly lower.
Aero is the mediator and it will buy the planes from the military, probably for 30-40 million crowns per plane.
The military could get about 400 million in total.

Draken International is to pay about 250 million crowns for 12 L-159s plus two planes for spare parts.
If the contract with Iraq meant a lot of work, the military would prefer the sale to Draken, which may be interested in another 14 planes.

The Czech military has been paying for the maintenance of the mothballed L-159s to Aero.
Even if it sold the planes for a low sum, it would therefore save the money for their maintenance, LN writes.

The military has paid over 250 million crowns for it since 2006, when the L-159s were mothballed, the paper says.
($1=19.999 crowns)

[mart]

It was both cover up and lead in for the F-117:

I think it was in late 1979 that the phase out of the active USAF fleet was in its final stages and England AFB, Louisiana, was the last A-7 wing in existence. Somewhere the decision was made that the A-7 would be an excellent lead in trainer for the F-117 pilots. One reason was that it had a lot of similar flying characteristics and cockpit workload requirements like the F-117. It would also provide an airframe that would provide meaningful flight training and currency while the F-117 fleet was being built at a rate of four per year. A transfer program was established and the A-7Ds began arriving at Nellis. To explain the existence of the 4450th and the squadron of A-7 Corsairs to the public the “white” world was told that we were engaged in advanced avionics testing.


http://www.f117sfa.org/sfa_newsletter/N ... 011-09.pdf

Just added a small pease to your sentence

[Coati]

was told that we were engaged in advanced avionics testing.

Just added a small pease to your sentence

Thanks! Not unimportant part!