Israel Awards Honeywell $735 Million Engine Contract For Alenia Jet Trainers

The Israeli Ministry of Defense has awarded a contract to Honeywell to supply its F124-GA-200 turbofan engines to power the new 30-strong Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Master advanced jet trainer fleet. The contract was signed under the joint venture of Honeywell and the Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. As part of the contract, spare parts, comprehensive maintenance and support program will be provided to the IMOD. The contract amount is $735 million. The F124 engine will be used for training flexibility and produces 6,000 pounds of thrust for high acceleration in high-speed training environments provides widest possible range of modern fighter aircraft and improves through automated control system that can reduce pilot workload. Massimo Lucchesini, Chief Operating Officer, Operations, Alenia Aermacchi,said, “The F124 is a core element of the M-346 platform, giving pilots unrestricted surge-free use of the engines they need to train in the widest possible range of flight conditions. It offers best-in-class thrust-to-weight ratio, providing afterburner-like agility coupled with exceptionally low fuel consumption. This enables the M-346 to deliver combat aircraft levels of performance, while providing the operator with unrivalled low life-cycle cost and high reliability and safety". The F124 will provide diagnostic information in maintaining, planning and reduces the cost and replace many key components and the manpower requirements.