France Modernizing Alpha Jet Trainer Avionics

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The Alpha Jet was developed jointly by France’ Dassault Aviation and Germany’s Dornier. In France, they are mainly used as lead-in fighter trainers before pilots graduate to front-line combat aircraft like the Rafale and Mirage 2000, but they were built with secondary light attack capability as well. The Alpha Jet was expected to be the BAe Hawk’s main competitor in the international trainer and light attack market when it was introduced in the early 1980s, but it finished a distant 4th behind the Hawk, which remains in production to this day. Alpha Jet sales were made to France (176), Germany (175), Belgium (33), Cameroon (6-7), Egypt (45), Ivory Coast (7), Morocco (24), Nigeria (24), Qatar (6), and Togo (5). Germany would later dispose of most of its Alpha Jets during its 1990s disarmament drive, with sales to to Portugal (50), Thailand (25), the UAE (32), and the private “Flying Bulls” aerobatic team (3).

France’s DGA defense procurement agency awarded a EUR 22.6 million (about ) euro contract to modernize the avionics of 20 Alpha Jet E aircraft used by the Armee de l’Air. Co-contractors Thales Avionics and Belgium’s SABCA (Societe Anonyme Belge des Constructions Aeronautiques) will run the project, which will take place in 2 phases…