were early export customers for the Alpha Jet, domestically performed the final assembly of their French-configuration Alpha Jet E aircraft. On 17 September 1978, Dassault and the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) signed a license manufacturing agreement for the Alpha Jet; Egyptian assembly work was carried out in a facility in Helwan, Egypt. In July 1978, Dassault signed an agreement with American aircraft manufacture Lockheed to market the Alpha Jet in the US market, the arrangement included provisions for Lockheed to manufacture the Alpha Jet under license. It was considered as a candidate for the US Navy's VTXTS advanced trainer program (eventually won by the McDonnell Douglas T-45 Goshawk, a modified version of the Hawker Siddeley Hawk); proposed modifications included undercarriage changes for nose-tow catapults and a stronger arrestor hook, as well as various US-sourced avionics and other equipment. On 4 November 1977, the first production aircraft made its first flight. In September 1978, deliveries of production Alpha Jets formally commenced. The four prototypes remained in service as flying testbeds, being used for further development of the type such as to evaluate a composite graphite-epoxy wing and improved versions of the Larzac engine. Prototype 01 was specifically used early on to support the development of the Larzac engine. The different avionics fit makes French and German Alpha Jets relatively easy to visually distinguish the two, with French planes featuring a rounded-off nose and German ones featuring a sharp, pointed nose. Further development In 1980, work began on an "Alternate Close Support" version of the Alpha Jet, featuring a SAGEM ULISS 81 INS, a Thomson-CSF VE-110 HUD, a TMV630 laser rangefinder in a modified nose and a TRT AHV 9 radio altimeter, with all avionics linked through a digital databus. Initial flight was on 9 April 1982. Cameroon obtained seven (some sources claim 6) and Egypt obtained 15. As with the original Egyptian order for MS1 machines, Dassault provided four such machines under the designation of MS2 and AOI of Egypt assembled the other eleven from knockdown kits. The Alpha Jet 2, originally the Alpha Jet NGEA (Nouvelle Generation Appui/Ecole or "New Generation Attack/Training") was a proposed development of the Alpha Jet. It featured the basic avionics of the MS2 plus compatibility with the advanced French Matra Magic 2 AAMs and the more powerful Larzac 04-C20 turbofans refitted to Luftwaffe Alpha Jet A aircraft. Some of the aircraft's new avionics were