Uruguay's Ministry of Defense is considering the purchase of a new combat aircraft vector to replace the current and aging fleet of Cessna A-37 Dragonfly jets, whose main mission is ground attack.
According to blog before flight there are three contenders on the list to retool the Uruguayan air force, starting with the Italian M-346FA, followed by the Chinese L-15B. In third place, the definition is between the South Korean FA-50 and the Swedish SAAB Gripen C.
Still according to the blog, the preference of the Uruguayan government is for the M-346FA advanced trainer. The preference is for on-board technology and the low cost of flight hours and maintenance.
The new aircraft that was chosen will provide the Uruguayan air force with new systems that were not used until then, such as combat capability beyond the visual range BVR (Beyond Visual Range).
The batch would be 6 aircraft, but this batch may increase to six more units in the future. However, another Uruguayan purchase would be more units of the Pilatus PC-7 turboprop that would increase the trainer fleet.
