TEAM ARRIVES IN HAMPSHIRE ON 11 JULY FOR DISPLAY VALIDATION

Fursan Al Emarat, the United Arab Emirates National Aerobatics Team, will arrive at Farnborough, Hampshire, on Saturday 11 July 2026, ahead of the validation of its flying display for the Farnborough International Airshow 2026, which takes place from 20 to 24 July. The team’s confirmation forms part of the second wave of display participants announced for the show’s flying programme. Alongside Fursan Al Emarat, newly confirmed flying displays include a Chinook Role Demonstration and an Army Air Corps team Apache and Wildcat helicopter display, both operated by the Joint Aviation Command, and the British Army Parachute Display Team — the Red Devils.

The static display programme has also been expanded in this wave to include a Textron Cessna SkyCourier, Bell Helicopters’ 505, 407 and MV-75 models, and a Turkish Aerospace HÜRJET mock-up, further broadening the show’s coverage across commercial, military, rotary-wing, uncrewed and future combat capability.

ORIGINS: ESTABLISHED 2008, PUBLIC DEBUT 2011

Fursan Al Emarat — Arabic for ‘Knights of the Emirates’ — was established in 2008 by bringing together elite pilots from the UAE Air Force and Air Defence. The team underwent intensive aerobatic formation training before making its public display debut at the Dubai Airshow in November 2011, where a seven-aircraft formation routine immediately established the team’s identity and visual language. The number seven is deliberately symbolic: each aircraft in the formation represents one of the UAE’s seven emirates, giving the display a layer of national significance beyond the aerobatic spectacle itself. The team’s black and gold aircraft livery pays homage to the colours of oil and the desert — the twin forces that shaped the modern UAE — and the smoke trails used throughout the display are drawn from the colours of the UAE flag.

TEAM STRUCTURE: THREE CREWS, THREE DISPLAY PROFILES

According to the team’s official communications, Fursan Al Emarat operates through three coordinated crews whose combined function is essential to each performance. The first is the aircrew — the elite pilots drawn from the UAE Air Force and Air Defence who execute the display itself. Selection for the aircrew demands exceptional aircraft handling skills, a high threshold for physical stress under g-loading and the capacity for split-second decision-making in close proximity to other aircraft at display speeds; central to that is an absolute trust between pilots. The second is the technical crew, composed of engineers and technicians with extensive expertise across the aircraft’s systems, who maintain the aircraft to the exacting standards required for aerobatic operations. A third crew handles media, public relations and logistics, ensuring the operational and communications infrastructure that supports international deployments.

Fursan Al Emarat’s pilots are qualified to perform three distinct display profiles, each suited to different meteorological conditions, with the profile selected on the day of display according to cloud base, visibility and wind. Each profile contains a range of formations demanding exceptional aircraft handling precision and a high degree of inter-pilot coordination. The team’s ability to select and execute a suitable profile across varying weather conditions is presented in its official materials as a mark of the pilots’ breadth of capability and training depth.

NEW AIRCRAFT, NEW ERA: THE HONGDU L-15

For the majority of its operational history, Fursan Al Emarat flew the Aermacchi MB-339NAT, an Italian-built advanced jet trainer ideally suited to tight formation aerobatics. In 2025, the team transitioned to the Hongdu L-15, a Chinese-built advanced jet trainer and light combat aircraft, which made its public debut with Fursan Al Emarat at the Dubai Airshow in November 2025 — marking the team’s first aircraft type change in fifteen years and a significant step-up in display capability. It is on the new L-15 that the team will perform at Farnborough 2026.

Farnborough International Airshow 2026 runs from 20 to 24 July, with the final day — Friday 24 July — designated as Pioneers of Tomorrow, a public STEM and careers programme aimed at inspiring the next generation of aerospace professionals. Further aircraft and display team announcements are expected before the show opens.