Czech Skyfox jets will soon fly in Armenia, minister says

Armenia’s Defense Minister Suren Papikyan toured Czech aircraft maker Aero Vodochody on Oct. 20 and said L-39 Skyfox jet trainers will soon be flying with Armenia’s armed forces. The country’s Ministry of Defense published a photo series from the visit showing Papikyan with the new aircraft, which can also fly light attack missions.

“These marvels will soon be flying in Armenian skies,” said Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan. Neither Yerevan nor Aero has announced how many jets Armenia is buying, what the deal is worth or when deliveries will start. Czech defense industry trackers reported in September that Armenia had ordered four Skyfox aircraft, a figure that has not been officially confirmed.

The visit came about six weeks after Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan toured the same plant at Vodochody, outside Prague, on Sept. 4 during an official trip to the Czech Republic. Armenia already flies the older L-39 Albatros, the Soviet-era Czechoslovak trainer that the Skyfox replaces on Aero’s production line.

The Skyfox, known as the L-39NG until Aero renamed it in October 2024, keeps the general layout of the Albatros but uses a new composite wing, modern avionics and a Williams FJ44-4M turbofan engine. The subsonic jet tops out at about 900 km/h (560 mph) and has five hardpoints for up to 1,640 kg (3,616 pounds) of gun pods, rockets and other stores, so it can fly ground attack and reconnaissance missions as well as train pilots for fourth- and fifth-generation fighters. Aero has spent the past two years turning the design into a production aircraft.

Hungary took delivery of its first three Skyfox jets in May 2025 under a 12-aircraft order, as we reported at the time, and the Czech flight training center at Pardubice had six of its eight aircraft by January 2026. Vietnam ordered 12, and in June 2026 Aero signed contracts with customers in Angola and North America. In October, Aero also signed an agreement with Thales Belgium to arm the Skyfox with 70 mm FZ275 laser-guided rockets for shooting down drones, a version the company calls the Drone Hunter.

There is no indication yet whether Armenia’s jets will receive that configuration or any particular weapons package.