02/28/2023. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "The design of these types was finalized by Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) in late 1993. Initially designated Astra IV, the aircraft was announced as the IAI 1126 Galaxy on September 20, 1993. Initially a cooperative project with the Russian Yakovlev company, this was terminated in 1995, as the Russian contractor failed to meet the IAI specifications.
Two non-flying and two flying prototypes (c/n 001 to 004) were constructed, of which the first two were used for static respectively fatigue testing. Scheduled to fly in 1996, the first flight of c/n 003 (registered 4X-IGA) was finally made by test pilot Adi Benaya on December 25, 1997, c/n 004 (4X-IGO) was flown on May 21, 1998. A company demonstrator (c/n 005, 4X-IGB) first flew on 23 September 1998; by December 1998 the latter three aircraft combined clocked a total of 750 hours in 260 flights. On December 16, 1998, a Type Certificate was awarded by the Israeli CAA and US FAA.
Following certification in December 1998 the aircraft was marketed worldwide by Galaxy Aerospace in the USA. That company was a joint venture between IAI and the Hyatt Corporation, formed in November 1996, which took over the activities of IAI's subsidiary Astra Jet Corporation, including the finishing of 'green' IAI Astra SPX and IAI Galaxy aircraft manufactured in Israel. The first customer Galaxy delivery was made to TTI of Fort Worth, Texas, in January 2000.
