The Israeli Air Force (IAF) has requested information Korean and Italian aerospace companies on new training aircraft for use by pilot school cadets before advancing to combat jets training.

The IAF has replaced the ground-attack aircraft Skyhawk with Italy’s Alenia Aermacchi M-346 transonic trainer aircraft and the Korean Aerospace Industries supersonic advanced trainer and multirole fighter T-50 Golden Eagle.

Discover B2B Marketing That Performs

Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.

Find out more

The T-50 is South Korea’s first indigenous supersonic aircraft and one of the world’s few supersonic trainers.

The T-50 programme was intended to develop an indigenous trainer aircraft capable of supersonic flight and to train and prepare pilots for the KF-16 and F-15K, replacing trainers such as T-38 and A-37.

The Israeli Air Force found the T-50 impressive because of its similarity to the F-16 fighter jet, the Jerusalem Post reports quoting an Israeli Air Force officer.

GlobalData Strategic Intelligence

US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?

Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.

By GlobalData

Airforce Technology Excellence Awards - Nominations Closed

Nominations are now closed for the Airforce Technology Excellence Awards. A big thanks to all the organisations that entered – your response has been outstanding, showcasing exceptional innovation, leadership, and impact.


Excellence in Action
Discover how Virtualitics is transforming mission readiness with explainable AI, predictive maintenance, and data-driven decision intelligence across the U.S. Department of Defense through its AI-powered Integrated Readiness Optimization suite, for which it has won the Innovation and Business Expansion awards.

Discover the Impact