Lithuania transfers its last combat aircraft to Ukraine in a bold move

The L-39 Albatros was developed in the 1960s as a training and combat aircraft in Czechoslovakia. This design was adopted by the Warsaw Pact countries (except for Poland, where the TS-11 Iskra aircraft was developed) as the standard training aircraft, leading to large-scale production – more than 2,900 units of this machine were produced.

The L-39 has seen several developmental versions—like the L-59 Super Albatros and L-159 ALCA aircraft—and modern updates, such as the L-39NG variant, which is still in production today.

The single-engine, two-seater aircraft has a length of about 12 metres, a wingspan of approximately 9 metres, and a maximum takeoff weight of around 5,800 kilograms, of which about 1,200 kilograms can be allotted to weapons carried on five hardpoints. The L-39NG can accelerate up to about 900 km/h, and its service ceiling is slightly over 11,500 metres.

After the collapse of the USSR, Lithuania had two L-39 aircraft, but one of them was destroyed in an air collision with a French Mirage 2000 in 2011. The second Albatros was used as a pilot and air traffic control training machine.

Since the NATO Baltic Air Policing program is responsible for the security of Lithuania's airspace, the last Lithuanian Albatros has not been utilized since 2019. It was dismantled and sent by land to Ukraine. It is a design known to the Ukrainians – the Ukrainian air forces use several Albatroses as training machines.

Lithuania handed over the Albatros in version L-39ZA. In this variant, the aircraft has been adapted not only for training purposes but also for combat. As a result, it has a reinforced undercarriage, the weight of carried weapons increased to about 1,300 kilograms, and it also includes an additional, double-barreled GSz-23 cannon mounted in a conformal pod under the fuselage.

The L-39ZA variant also has been adapted to carry short-range air-to-air missiles, such as the R-60 or K-13.