If you want to say that the cradle of our domestic trainer machine, it must be Hongdu, after all, the first teaching -6, teaching-8, teaching -10 comes from here. As a foreign trade version of the K-10 L-15 "Falcon" trainer aircraft, it recently shined at the Dubai Air Show. According to the relevant information, there are two "Falcons" sent to Dubai this time, one for the air show and the other for static display.
However, it is worth mentioning that this is the L-15 after 12 years to come to the Dubai Air Show again, compared with the previous, it has also been a great improvement, and this time it has continuously completed a series of flying subjects such as vertical maneuvering, horizontal maneuvering, rolling, inverted flight, etc. After its debut, its excellent flightability and high-quality completed flight actions have attracted the audience to clap their hands.
It's no exaggeration to say that the two L-15 Falcon trainers shined at the Dubai Airshow. But then again, the Falcon was able to appear at the Dubai Air Show because of more than just this air show. The reason for this is that the L-15 Falcon trainer is not only strong in its own strength, but also highly favored in the international market in recent years.
So next, let's talk about the new and improved L-15 Falcon trainer aircraft, what kind of ability? First of all, we as a whole, the aerodynamic layout of its large side wings, the structure of the highly winged body fusion, and the digital flight control fly-by-wire system and integrated avionics system make it not only more agile to operate, but also realize the sharing of resources before different channels.
Not only that, its strong mobility, design life can reach 10,000 hours, long time in the air, good low-altitude flight performance, can meet the pilots' combat entry training and tactical basic modification training, which shows that the L-15 "Falcon" trainer aircraft actual training efficiency ratio is very high. Obviously, if the L-15 "Falcon" trainer aircraft is equipped with troops, our army can use it in daily training, which undoubtedly saves the cost of using the third-generation and fourth-generation aircraft, and also prolongs their service life.
As we mentioned earlier, the L-15 "Falcon" trainer has been newly upgraded, for example, its front cabin refractive head-up display has been upgraded to a new domestic wide-angle diffraction heads-up display, which is not only the aesthetics that can be compared with other models, but also means that the newly upgraded L-15 "Falcon" has a larger field of view and a higher perspective rate on the exterior, which is very good for night flight and weapon aiming.
Of course, the most important upgrade is that it is equipped with an enemy identification antenna in the front of the windshield, and the tail part is equipped with alarms and electronic countermeasures. It is estimated that after seeing this, everyone will be tempted to mutter, is this not upgrading the trainer aircraft into a fighter with actual combat significance? Honestly, such associations are valid, and in this way, the newly upgraded L-15 "Falcon" has begun to play a dual "role".
In this way, it is expected that "Falcon" is favored in the international market. However, in addition to the strength of the "Falcon", the most important point is the price advantage. Why? Mainly because its single machine price is definitely called "good quality and low price", after all, combined with relevant information, the single machine price of "Falcon" is about 60% of the unit price of the T-50 in the United States and about 80% of the European MAKO. Therefore, for countries with less developed economic conditions, the L-15 "Falcon" trainer aircraft with low unit price, low maintenance cost but stable performance is a rare choice.
By the way, Malaysia has recently shown interest in our L-15 Falcon trainer aircraft, and as to whether there will eventually be such an order, it depends on how Malaysia chooses. However, in general, this opportunity is still very large, after all, compared with the bidding of south Korea's FA-50 and Italy's M-346, whether it is cost-effective or on-time delivery speed, "Falcon" has a certain advantage.