Aero Vodochody has been active since its founding in 1919. Between 1929 and 1951, its subsidiary,
Aero, manufactured a range of small and medium-sized cars with
two-stroke engines, it also briefly produced the
Škoda 150
truck between 1946 and 1947
under licence. During the 1950s, Aero Vodochody developed the
L-29 Delfin trainer aircraft; it was Czechoslovakia's first indigenously designed
jet-powered aircraft. The L-29 is believed to have likely been the biggest aircraft industrial programme to take place across any of the
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) countries except for the
Soviet Union itself. During the course of the programme, in excess of 3,000 L-29s were produced; of these, around 2,000 were reported to have been delivered to the Soviet Union, where it served as the standard trainer for the
Soviet Air Force. Of the others, which included both armed and unarmed models, many aircraft were delivered to the various COMECON countries while others were exported to various overseas nations, including
Egypt,
Syria,
Indonesia,
Nigeria and
Uganda. The
L-39 Albatros was designed during the 1960s as a replacement for the
Aero L-29 Delfín as a principal training aircraft. Several specialised variants of the base L-39 design were quickly introduced. In 1972, a purpose-built
target tug variant, the L-39V, conducted its initial flight. According to aerospace publication
Flight International, roughly 200 L-39s were being sold each year upon the jet trainer market during the late 1980s. During 1996, production of the L-39 was terminated. The
L-59 Super Albatros was derived from the L-39, being originally designated as the
L-39MS. Aero only produced a handful of L-59s before discontinuing production. Another derivative of the L-39 Albatros was the
L-159 Alca, a modernised combat-oriented version. Originally, Aero Vodochody had intended to develop the L-159 in partnership with Elbit, but the Czech Ministry of Defense instead selected
Rockwell Collins to partner on the program. During the 2010s, Aero Vodochody was engaged in the manufacture of the L-159 advanced light combat aircraft and the
Sikorsky S-76 helicopter. It has also an active presence in the aerostructures sector, producing the center wing box of the
Alenia C-27J Spartan airlifter, door subassemblies for the
Embraer 170 and
Embraer 190 airliners, the cockpit of the
Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, gun bay doors for the
Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter, subassemblies and various elements of the
Airbus A320 family airliner, and fixed
leading edge kits for the
Boeing 767 airliner. The company is reportedly likely to upgrade the runway at its
Vodochody Airport near Prague to international airport standards, allowing it to better serve the low-cost air carriers and charter flights that service Prague. During July 2014, Aero Vodochody presented the L-39NG (
Skyfox) programme at the
Farnborough Airshow. By April 2015, a partnership had formed between Aero Vodochody, American defence contractor
Draken International and engine manufacturer
Williams International to undertake the programme and to properly prepare the L-39NG to compete on the
North American market. The L-39NG upgrade program (Stage 1) contains an installation of
FJ44-4M engine and optionally the Stage 2 avionics to existing L-39 Albatros. The second phase (Stage 2) represents newly built L-39NG aircraft with the possible use of components from the previous upgrade to Stage 1, once the original
airframe reaches the end of its life. The first stage was formally completed om 14 September 2015 with the maiden flight of the L-39NG technology demonstrator (L-39CW). On 20 November 2017, Aero Vodochody announced the completion of development of the L-39CW; on 14 March 2018, they announced that the L-39CW, equipped with both the new engine and the new avionics, had received
type certification. The brand new L-39NG aircraft made first flight on December 22, 2018. in September 2020, less than two years later, the aircraft was certified by the Military Aviation Authority of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic. In September 2021, the Aero Vodochody sale transaction was successfully completed. Based on an agreement signed in July 2021, Hungarian company HSC Aerojet Zrt. became the 100 per cent owner of Aero. In HSC Aerojet Zrt., an 80 per cent majority is held by Hungarian businessman
Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky and a minority is held by Czech company
OMNIPOL a.s. The sale also included Vodochody Airport. In 2022, after becoming
Minister of Defence of Hungary, Szalay-Bobrovniczky sold his share to
Zsolt Hernádi, chairman and CEO of
MOL. In October 2022 Zsolt transferred his share to N7 Holding National Defence Industrial Innovation Ltd In September 2022, some Hungarian oligarchs, namely Zsolt Hernádi,
Oszkár Világi, deputy CEO of MOL,
György Bacsa, director of MOL Hungary, and
Árpád Habony,
spin doctor of prime minister
Viktor Orbán, were indirect owners. At present 75% of the shares are held by a private company,
4iG, managed by Gellért Jászai ==Aircraft==