Singapore Airshow 2024: Aero set to complete VPAF L-39NG deliveries

Aero Vodochody has completed deliveries of the first batch of L-39NGs to the Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF). The company is also focusing on selling the aircraft to Thailand. (Aero Vodochody)

Aero Vodochody AS has delivered its first batch of L-39NG trainer and light-attack aircraft to the Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF), with remaining deliveries expected to be completed in 2024.

Vietnam ordered 12 L-39NG aircraft in February 2021. Filip Gunnar Kulštrunk, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer of Aero, told Janes that deliveries began in the fourth quarter of 2023 and that “the first batch of aircraft is now in [Vietnam]. We're going to be following up through to the end of this year. Most of this year is filled up with these delivery schedules”.

Kulštrunk offered his comments during the 2024 Singapore Airshow, which is being held from 20 to 25 February.

The new L-39NGs will replace the VPAF's older L-39C trainers, which have been in service since 1980. Kulštrunk said the L-39NG represents a “step up” for the VPAF in “terms of their training and aircraft capability”. The sale also supports Aero Vodochody's strategy to achieve additional L-39NG sales across the Asia-Pacific by focusing on other erstwhile users of the earlier-generation L-39s, Janes assesses.

An L-39 acquisition is “a switch from having just a trainer, aircraft, or basic and advanced training to having a full training system”, he said. The sale includes “a full suite of simulators, a mission planning and debriefing system, [and] a learning management system, which is tailored to each student's capabilities… This system automatically guides them through the learning process – all the way from basic training in the classroom through to simulator training”.