The Greek Air Force reported that on May 11, 2023, the first two delivered combat training aircraft M-346B Master, built for Greece by the Italian company Leonardo, arrived at the Greek Kalamata air base. The aircraft have Greek tail numbers "250" and "251" and will be part of the Kalamata-based 120th training Wing of the Greek Air Force.
The first two Leonardo M-346B Master combat training aircraft received by the Greek Air Force (Greek tail numbers "250" and "251") after arriving at the Greek Kalamata Air Base, 05/11/2023 (c) www.itamilradar.comRecall that ten M-346B aircraft were ordered by Leonardo as part of an intergovernmental agreement signed in January 2021 by the Ministries of Defense of Israel and Greece on the establishment by the Israeli side of an International Flight Training Center for the Greek Air Force in Kalamata modeled after the Israeli Air Force flight school.
The creation and operation of the Greek Air Force flight training center will be carried out under the head role of the Israeli company Elbit Systems. The cost of the agreement is about $ 1.68 billion and it is designed for 20 years. [...]
The M-346B aircraft will be used in this center for the advanced flight training stage and as transitional fighters. Elbit Systems will also provide maintenance and modernization of Beechcraft T-6A Texan II turboprop training aircraft, as well as the provision of simulators, training and logistical support for the basic preparation stage of the training process at this center. The M-346B and T-6A aircraft must be retrofitted with Elbit Systems avionics.
The first of the M-346B aircraft built for Greece under this agreement (tail number "250", Italian registration number CSX55277) made its first flight at the Leonardo factory airfield in Varese Venegono on January 21, 2023. Greece became the seventh recipient of the M-346 aircraft.
The first two Leonardo M-346B Master combat training aircraft received by the Greek Air Force (Greek tail numbers "250" and "251") before taking off from the Leonardo Company's airfield in Varese Venegono (Italy), 11.05.2023 (c) Oscar BernardiVideo:
