While the market for its business jets is moribund, Hawker Beechcraft has been faring very well indeed in defense sales of its King Air line. And a recent wavelet of sales of its T-6C trainer comes as welcome news while the company's restive work force protests closed production lines.

Yesterday, Hawker Beechcraft announced a sale of 24 T-6C single-engine turboprop trainers to the Royal Moroccan Air Force, a first for the new T-6C and the third foreign military sale this year. The contract for the aircraft is a government-to-government deal between the United States and Morocco, and the trainers will replace older Beech T-34s and Cessna T-37 jets. The $185.3 million contract includes ferrying, site surveys, support and test equipment, publications and documents, facility infrastructure support, personnel training and equipment and other technical and logistical support.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has pushed for simpler solutions to the battle with insurgent forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan along with a much compressed development cycle. The U.S. Air Force got the message, and in April of this year, took delivery of the first of 23 King Air 350ER twin turboprop aircraft for the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) mission under a $171 million contract that is part of Project Liberty, which takes its name from the Liberty ships of World War II that were built on an expedited schedule. The modified aircraft are designated MC-12W by the Air Force and are to provide data and information services to ground commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan. Using the existing Hawker Beech KA350 platform, the program took months instead of years to get an aircraft to the battlefield.

The airplane has additional nacelle fuel tanks for extended range and heftier landing gear raises the gross weight by 1,500 pounds to 16,500 MTOW. It can fly for more than eight hours and cruise at 300 knots at 35,000 feet. L-3 Communications Holdings is responsible for much of the ISR equipment, which provides real-time video imaging as well as electronic surveillance.

Gates may have shut down Lockheed Martin's F-22 program, but LockMart is teaming with Hawker Beechcraft on an armed version of the T-6 trainer to provide rapid response in austere theaters. Orders for the AT-6 could come shortly. Under the program, Hawker Beech provides its proven T-6 airframe, modified and strengthened for carrying and delivering weapons, while Lockheed Martin provides the integrated weapon systems and sensors.

As the recession gradually gives way to resumed growth and companies once again buy its business jets, Hawker Beech can thank the Department of Defense, and perhaps Robert Gates himself, for a lifeline that enabled it to survive.

Photo credit: General Atomics