This aircraft is preserved within the once Aermacchi and now Leonardo Aircraft Division production plant, located on the west side of the airfield. During 1989, Aermacchi formed a partnership with American defense conglomerate Lockheed and the aircraft division of General Motors to jointly bid in the American Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS) programme. The proposed modified model of the MB-339 was referred to as the T-Bird II. The bid was ultimately not successful, because the contract was then awarded to the Raytheon Pilatus T-6 Texan II