The "Al Fursan" (The Knights) are the United Arab Emirates Air Force aerobatic display team. The team flies seven Aermacchi MB-339A jet trainer aircraft including one solo. The team has a total of ten aircraft.
The “Al Fursan” planes are painted in black, gold, white, red and green colors and are equipped with smoke generators producing red, green, white and black smoke (i.e. National flag colors). The main colors of the paint scheme are black and gold representing the desert's golden sands and the black oil that lies beneath it.
The team was formed at the beginning of 2010 and the team's first public appearance was on January 20, 2010 with a simple fly-by at the graduation ceremony for pilots and air-traffic control students at the Khalifa Bin Zayed Air College. Four more MB-339s in camouflage paint schemes also flew past using red smoke.
In July 2010, eight UAE Air Force fighter pilots began an aerobatic formation training course under the supervision of “Frecce Tricolori” pilots at Rivolto Air Base in Italy. This course was completed in the beginning of 2011 and the team made its first public aerobatic demonstration on 13 November 2011 during the first day of the Dubai Air Show.
