US Air Force (USAF) pilots will for the first time be trained by a foreign school following a landmark agreement between the service and its Italian counterpart.
Signed on 22 August, the pact will see USAF flightcrew receive instruction at the International Flight Training School (IFTS) at Decimomannu air base, Sardinia.
An initial cohort of 10 students will be enrolled at the IFTS and will undertake a training programme that has been specially developed by the two air forces.
Flying the Leonardo T-346A, the local designation for the M-346 lead-in fighter trainer, students will gain their military pilot licence in around nine months, the Italian air force says.
Describing the agreement as a “historic turning point”, the Italian air force says it is it the “first time in the history of the American military aviation” that the USAF “has chosen a foreign school, in a NATO country, to train its pilots”.
In addition to a fleet of 22 T-346As, the IFTS also boasts an advanced ground-based training system and extensive campus facilities.
Previous nations to have signed up to the IFTS include Austria, Canada, Germany, Japan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sweden and the UK.
