LOM PRAHA overhauls Algerian trainer aircraft engines
Safir 43 is licence-produced in Algeria. (Photo: Algerian Air Force)
Algeria sends engines for its Zlin trainer aircraft to the Czech Republic for MRO work.
Czech state-run aero engine MRO company Lom Praha is overhauling eight more Avia M337AK piston engines that power Zlin Z-43 and Z-142 single-engine propeller trainer aircraft operated by the Algerian Air Force.
The engines arrived from Algeria on a Lockheed Martin C-130H-30 transport aircraft and nine previously refurbished M337AKs were taken on the return flight, the Czech MoD noted on its website on 6 June.
Overhauling the M337AK engines is part of a long-term defence industrial cooperation arrangement between the Czech Republic and Algeria.
SIPRI notes that Z-43 and Z-142 aircraft are produced locally in Algeria as the Safir-43 and Fernas 142 respectively.
According to Lom Praha, aircraft powered by the M337AK are capable of basic aerobatics with a maximum inverted flight time of 5 seconds.
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