UAE selects Finmeccanica to deliver $1.27 billion trainer jets

The United Arab Emirates Government has selected Alenia Aermacchi, a Finmeccanica company, for the acquisition of 48 M-346 advanced lead-in fighter trainer aircraft. The United Arab Emirates Government announced at IDEX 2009. The value of the deal could be worth around $1.27 billion,according to sources. The agreement, which also includes the creation of a joint-venture in the UAE between Alenia Aermacchi and the Mubadala Development Company to establish a final assembly line for the M-346, is the result of close collaboration between the Italian Government and the defence industry, which have worked together to capitalise on Italian excellence in the aeronautics high-tech sector. “The selection of the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 by the United Arab Emirates Government represents a huge success for the Italian high-tech industry”', said Pier Francesco Guarguaglini, Chairman and CEO of Finmeccanica. It is an endorsement of considerable strategic value for Finmeccanica, as it confirms the supremacy of this advanced next-generation trainer aircraft at international level and paves the way for further successes in the global markets, where others important campaigns are already under way. The UAE Government’s selection of the M-346 forms part of a broader industrial co-operation agreement recently signed by Finmeccanica and Mubadala which foresees, among other things, the manufacturing of aerostructures in composite materials for the civil sector in Abu Dhabi'.