TSAMTO, April 21. UBS L-39NG of the Czech company Aero Vodochody with serial number 0476 arrived on April 18 at the air base "Sliac "(Slovakia) for an official presentation to the Air Force of this country.
According to Scramble Magazine, the Czech government has offered Slovakia a long-term industrial cooperation under the L-39NG program, along with a package of training programs in the country.
The Slovak Air Force in 2019 began to develop requirements for a new modern training aircraft in anticipation of the delivery of 14 F-16 Block fighters.70. Since the L-39CM/ZAM available in the Slovak Air Force were adopted in the 1970s, they are ineffective for training pilots of the latest version of the F-16 Block.70. According to the plans, the Slovak Air Force will receive the first American fighter in the last quarter of 2022, and the full delivery will be completed by the end of 2023.
In accordance with the agreement with the US side, the training of 22 pilots of the Slovak Air Force will begin at the US Air National Guard base in Tucson (Arizona) in 2022. They will be selected mainly from among the instructors at the Sliach air Base, who train pilots to fly the L-39CM/L-39ZAM.
On August 2, 2019, the Commander of the Slovak Air Force, Brigadier General Lubomir Svoboda, stated that the resource of the L-39s in service is no more than six years, so the command began to prepare the requirements for the new-generation TCB/UBS, as well as evaluating the project budget.
The Slovak Air Force plans to purchase up to 8 new TCB/UBS. On August 3-4, 2019, the Slovak International Aviation Festival was held on the basis of "Sliac", where several European manufacturers presented their solutions. Aero Vodochody demonstrated the L-39CW, which is a test platform for the L-39NG. The Leonardo group introduced the M-345. Grob has proposed the G-120TP, which can be used before switching to piloting the L-39NG, and then to the F-16.
In October 2020, the Sliach Air Base also hosted a meeting with representatives of the Air Forces of 14 countries from three continents and several civilian L-39 operators to share their experience with the L-39. Among the participants was the commander of the Slovak Air Force, Major General Lubomir Svoboda, as well as representatives of Hungary, Nigeria, Senegal, Vietnam and other countries.
At the moment, the Slovak Air Force has only five L-39s in service (2 L-39ZAM and 3 L-39CM). UTS are operated as part of the 2nd Squadron of the Tactical Air Wing named after Major General Otto Smik Sliach. The 1st squadron operates MiG-29s, of which 11 fighters are in flight-ready condition (9 MiG-29AS and 2 MiG-29UBS).
