Armee de l'Air sent five (of there 99 remaining) AlphaJets to Switzerland, visiting our schooling 'till tomorrow. Unfortunally the weather ist not as nice today - but flights with Alphajets and PC-21 on mixed crews can be expected.
Flightline
E35 as FAF6441
E42 as FAF6442
E94 as FAF6443
E153 as FAF6444
E163 as FAF6445
Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet (via
wikipedia)
The Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet is a light attack jet and advanced jet trainer co-manufactured by Dassault Aviation of France and Dornier Flugzeugwerke of Germany. It was developed specifically to perform the trainer and light attack missions, as well as to perform these duties more ideally than the first generation of jet trainers that preceded it. Following a competition, a design submitted by a team comprising Breguet Aviation, Dassault Aviation, and Dornier Flugzeugwerke, initially designated as the TA501, was selected and subsequently produced as the Alpha Jet.
Both the French Air Force and German Air Force procured the Alpha Jet in large numbers, the former principally as a trainer aircraft and the latter choosing to use it as a light attack platform. As a result of post-Cold War military cutbacks, Germany elected to retire its own fleet of Alpha Jets in the 1990s and has re-sold many of these aircraft to both military and civilian operators. The Alpha Jet has been adopted by a number of air forces across the world and has also seen active combat use by some of these operators.
Armée de l'Air is using this aircraft for the famous Patrouille de France display team.
Alpha Jet in Service by the Belgian Air Component, second largest mid-european user today.
SABCA Gosselies in Belgium finishes with the last overhauled Belgian Air Force Dassault-Breguet Alpha Jet these days. The history of the Alpha Jet and Sabca started in the late 1970s when the factory was responsible for the assembly of 32 (out of 33 ordered) aircraft that were ordered for the Belgian Air Force in late 1973.
In recent years the number of sightings of Belgian Air Force Alpha Jets was reduced considerably as in 2004 the first aircraft moved to Cazaux in France to be operated in the Belgo-French AJeTS (Advanced Jet Training School). In early 2017 the Belgian Air Force announced to end this collaboration and that future pilots would be trained in the United States instead. The future of the remaining Alpha Jets was uncertain, as the last flights of the aircraft were scheduled for mid 2019. At this moment 29 aircraft remain in service and as it appears now 25 of these aircraft will be offered for sale in small batches, the remaining four will be kept for preservation. Noteworthy is that the official authorization by the government still has to be given.
So far no possible interested candidates have made themselves known to the Belgian Air Force.
Belgo-French AJeTS, Casaux (F): AT01/02/03/05/06/08/09/10/11/12/13/14/15/17-33
Portugal has received 50 former German Luftwaffe Alpha Jets, withdrawn there fleet January 13th, 2018.
