Wed, Oct 21, 2009
Light Attack Prototype Production, Flight Testing Progress
Hawker Beechcraft Corporation gave
an update Monday in Orlando, Florida before the official opening of
the 62nd NBAA Meeting and Convention on the successful progress of
its Beechcraft AT-6 light attack aircraft program. The AT-6 is a
structurally strengthened derivative of the highly successful
T-6A/B. Development flight testing of the first AT-6 demonstrator
aircraft continues at a rapid pace, with preliminary flight
envelope investigations and initial integration of an EO/IR sensor
completed. In addition, the production of a second AT-6
demonstrator aircraft is moving forward at the company’s
headquarters in Wichita, Kansas.
“The AT-6 is a U.S.-made solution designed to meet
training, light attack and armed reconnaissance needs for irregular
warfare and building partner capacity initiatives,” said Jim
Maslowski, president, U.S. and International Government Business
for HBC. “Like our contribution to Project Liberty, we are
listening carefully to the warfighter and, together with our
partners at Lockheed Martin, we are creating high-end capabilities
in a low-cost, low-risk aircraft.”
The AT-6 is designed to be able to quickly transition pilots
between basic flight training missions and complex NetCentric light
attack and armed reconnaissance missions. The aircraft will offer
the U.S. Air Force and partner nations a robust airpower solution
that meets a wide spectrum of needs at a fraction of the cost of
other platforms.
The focus of the first AT-6 aircraft is integration of mission
systems in conjunction with HBC’s Mission System Integration
partner, Lockheed Martin Systems Integration-Owego. The aircraft is
scheduled to complete aerodynamic handling quality and flight
envelope expansion tests by late this year, with additional mission
system integration and testing to follow. The primary objective of
the second prototype aircraft is integration of the new, higher
horsepower PT-6A-68/10 engine for improved performance, with
initial flight testing to begin in the spring of 2010.
The HBC T-6 trainer fleet recently passed the one million flight
hour mark and 550th delivery with aircraft currently being flown by
the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, Hellenic Air Force of Greece, NATO
Flying Training in Canada and the Israeli Air Force. T-6 trainers
for the Iraqi Air Force are currently in production in Wichita and
are slated for delivery to Iraq beginning later this year. The
Royal Moroccan Air Force recently ordered 24 T-6C aircraft, and the
U.S. Navy recently started receiving T-6B aircraft to replace the
Beechcraft T-34 as its primary trainer.
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