The EADS Mako/High Energy Advanced Trainer (Mako/HEAT) was a proposed high-performance jet trainer or light attack aircraft.
The Mako emerged out of the AT-2000 project by the German aircraft manufacturer Dornier and the Italian aerospace company Aermacchi launched in the late 1980s. Following the withdrawal of Aermacchi in the mid 1990s, and a wave of aerospace consolidation in the 1990s, the European aerospace company EADS became the prime authority for the Mako. Various partnerships and opportunities were sought out for the type, early efforts included the South African Air Force, the South Korean Air Force and the United Arab Emirates Air Force - while memorandum of understandings (MoUs) were signed, it proved difficult to secure a launch customer for the Mako.
One key opportunity that the Mako was heavily marketed towards was the Advanced European Jet Pilot Training (AEJPT), or Eurotrainer, programme, under which as many as 120 aircraft would been procured for service with as many as 17 different European air forces. However, this initiative was repeatedly delayed before the remaining prospective members declared their preference for a twin-engine design, closing out this opportunity to the Mako. EADS publicly acknowledged that around 60 aircraft would need to be ordered in order to formally launch the Mako programme. , EADS had yet to announce a date for the aircraft's maiden flight; the Mako/HEAT project appeared to be defunct.
Development
The Mako/High Energy Advanced Trainer has its origins in the late 1980s and the AT-2000 initiative. In April 1989, the German aircraft manufacturer Dornier and the Italian aerospace firm Aermacchi launched a joint program to develop an advanced trainer. Five years later, Aermacchi opted to withdraw from the AT-2000 programme while DASA (which Dornier had merged into) decided to continue work on the program alone. During 1998, the AT-2000 was rebranded as Mako. Following the merger of DASA into the European aerospace company EADS, the Mako programme persisted. Between the late 1990s and mid 2000s, numerous European aerospace firms were announced as being subcontractors on the Mako project, including Diehl Aerospace, Aermacchi, Saab, EAB, and Dassault Aviation.
One early bid involving the Mako was made during the late 1990s was for the South African Air Force, but this was ultimately lost to the BAE Hawk and Saab Gripen. Around the same time, it was also submitted for the South Korean Air Force's requirement for a new advanced trainer, however, this opportunity went to the KAI T-50 Golden Eagle instead. As envisioned under the Eurotrainer initiative, as many as 120 trainers would have been procured and deployed at three shared bases that were located across continental Europe, which would be equally used by all participating partner nations. The initiative suffered repeated delays, which undermined the momentum for the Mako.
During June 2006, it was announced that an agreement for the Advanced European Jet Pilot Training (AEJPT) programme (alternatively known as European Staff Requirement for the Eurotraining) had been reached. However, that same month, it was reported that the programme’s remaining partners had a preference for a twin-engine platform, such as the M-346, in contrast to the single-engine Mako; this outcome was viewed as being impactful upon the future of the aircraft itself.
By February 2009, work on Mako had been reportedly shelved.
The Mako was to be equipped with a quadruplex digital fly-by-wire flight control system; unusually, this was intended to be reprogrammable so that flight behaviour could be adjusted to make the aircraft either easier or more challenging for the trainee pilot to handle.