Aero L-39 Albatros variant
Aero L-39 Albatros L-39M1
Ukrainian upgrade of the L-39C with AI-25TLSh engines, carried out by Odesaviaremservis. The first aircraft was ready in 2009 and only six L-39C had been converted by 2014.
History
The L-39M1 is Ukraine's answer to the problem every Albatros operator faced after the Cold War: a large, useful fleet with sound airframes but an ageing powerplant and no Soviet supply chain left to sustain it. The solution was a conversion of the L-39C in which the original AI-25TL turbofan is replaced by the AI-25TLSh, a development of the same engine with better throttle response — a point of real value in a training aircraft.
The work is carried out by Odesaviaremservis and the first converted aircraft was ready in 2009. The plan called for a further seven L-39C to be upgraded, but the real pace was far slower: by 2014 only six aircraft had been through the conversion.
The programme is a good illustration of what became of much of the Albatros fleet in the former Soviet republics: local upgrades, limited in scope and tightly budgeted, aimed at keeping a trainer flying when the alternative — buying a new aircraft of the L-159 or L-39NG generation — lay out of reach.