The first Alenia Aermacchi M-346 advanced lead-in fighter trainer for the Israel Air Force (IAF) was rolled out in the afternoon of 20 March at the company's plant in Venegono (Varese), Italy.

The ceremony was attended by Alenia Aermacchi CEO Giuseppe Giordo; Brigadier General Shmuel Tzuker, the head of the Israeli Ministry of Defence's Directorate of Procurement and Production; Brig Gen Ran Bashvitz, the head of the IAF's Materiel Directorate; and Ilan Harel, the CEO of TOR - Advanced Flight Training. Paolo Carmassi, the president of Honeywell Aerospace Europe, and General Domenico Esposito, the head of the Italian Ministry of Defence's General Directorate for Air Armaments were also present.

The ceremony took place only 20 months after the contract for 30 M-346 aircraft was signed in July 2012: a fact that was noted by both the manufacturer and by the customer, who thanked the Alenia Aermacchi team for the rapid progress.

Known in Israel as the Lavi (Lion), the M-346 will replace the obsolete TA-4 Skyhawk in the IAF's inventory. The first two will be delivered to Israel in mid-July 2014, with seven more following by the end of the year. Alenia Aermacchi is expected to deliver 18 aircraft in 2015, with the remaining three being scheduled for delivery in 2016.

Currently four Lavis are on the Venegono final assembly line, while six more aircraft are at earlier manufacturing stages.

No details were provided on specific configurations of the Israeli aircraft.

One IAF pilot will undergo flight training in Italy, while the remaining instructor pilots will be trained in Israel by Alenia Aermacchi pilots. The first batch of Israeli technical personnel is expected to arrive in Italy by end of March to start training on the new aircraft.

Meanwhile, TOR, which is a partnership between Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, is building a new ground training centre at the IAF's Hatzerim Air Base. This will host the full mission simulators and the emergency drills simulators and is expected to be completed by June. TOR will also be responsible for providing logistical support and maintenance infrastructure for the new aircraft.

Israel is the third M-346 customer, which has already been delivered to Italy and Singapore. It has since been ordered by Poland.