Czech company Aero Vodochody has completed the development of a new variant of its L-39 trainer aircraft, L-39CW.
The L-39CW has been developed by equipping the L-39 aircraft with Williams International’s FJ44-4M engine and new avionics.
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The FJ44-4M is claimed to have faster acceleration, lower weight and requires no auxiliary power unit and consumes less fuel.
The new avionics can train future pilots of fourth and fifth-generation aircraft and can be tailored to the customer’s requirements.
Aero Vodochody president Giuseppe Giordo said: “Based on big existing fleet and our approach of supporting L-39s users and building business relationships with them, we developed a package available for the customers to improve operating capabilities by the new engine and also new avionics.”
Flying and ground tests were conducted on the new aircraft to measure the pressure field inside the fuselage at the engine air intake, according to the company.
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By GlobalDataThese tests form a part of the requirements for verification of capability of the engine installation.
Aero Vodochody L-39NG programme head Marco Venanzetti said: “The measurement results confirmed that the operating parameters declared by the manufacturer are guaranteed even when housed in the L-39C fuselage.”
The L-39CW project has entered the last stage of the certification programme and is expected to receive a type certificate for the new product by the end of this year.
Deliveries of the L-39C reconstructions to the upgraded version of the L-39CW may start next year.
Nearly 600 L-39 aircraft are currently in service with more than 40 countries.
