Eight Air Forces to Fly T-6B
Raytheon Aircraft Company's upgraded
primary training aircraft, the T-6B, left Beech Field earlier this
week on the first leg of its world tour. The tour will include
flight demonstrations in the United Kingdom, Spain, Greece,
Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Israel, and the United Arab
Emirates. In addition, the T-6B will be on display at the Air Show
Down Under in Avalon, Australia, the Paris Air Show in France and
the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in the UK.
"We welcome the opportunity to take the T-6B directly to the
customer to enable them to view and fly the aircraft in their own
environment, affording them the ability to experience the handling
capabilities of the aircraft firsthand." said Sherry Grady, vice
president of Government Business, at Raytheon Aircraft Company.
"This demo tour is about helping us to understand the customer and
their requirements; learning what they like and don't like about
the aircraft, discussing how we can meet their needs, and become
their training partner. The T-6B's new avionics suite allows us to
tailor to each individual customer's training program, and we are
looking forward to hearing what they have to say."
With 95 percent commonality with the highly successful T-6 flown
by the US Air Force, US Navy, Hellenic Air Force of Greece and the
NATO Flying Training in Canada Program, the upgraded T-6B is the
next-generation trainer and light attack aircraft. The aircraft
features an avionic suite intended for customers interested in
fully utilizing the aircraft's training footprint. Each suite will
consist of a Flight Visions, Inc., FV-4000 Modular Mission Display
Processor (MMDP), a SparrowHawk Head Up Display (HUD), Stores
Management, and multifunction displays (MFD).
The Flight Visions avionic suite
will provide the upgraded T-6B with advanced cockpit management
functions employed in the latest front line aircraft and include an
open architecture mission computer giving the aircraft a multi-role
capability as both a trainer and a light attack aircraft. The open
architecture also allows for configuration flexibility that
provides the student with an opportunity to fly a next generation
aircraft at lower cost.
The missionized T-6B, using the Flight Visions FV-4000 Mission
Computer and proven Operational Flight Program, can be outfitted
with guns, rockets and bombs, fulfilling a secondary role as a
light attack aircraft.
Raytheon Aircraft designs, manufactures, markets and supports
Beechcraft and Hawker aircraft for the world's commercial, military
and regional airline markets.