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Raytheon T6B
Flown at Paris by former U.S. aerobatic champion Patty Wagstaff, the Raytheon T-6B trainer comes to the show fresh from an extensive worldwide demonstration tour. Recently, the aircraft has been demonstrated in the United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Australia, Thailand, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and France. The show will be the last stop on the tour.
Raytheon sees early opportunities for the T-6B in Singapore, the UK and Australia, according to director of business development Pat Farley. The Republic of Singapore AF has issued a request for tender for around 20 trainers, with responses due in August. The RSAF will inspect Raytheon’s production facility and visit Wichita for a flight evaluation.
The T-6B is under consideration by each of the three consortia — Ascent, led by Lockheed Martin, Sterling (Boeing/Thales) and Vector (KBR/Bombardier) — bidding for the UK Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) training service contract. Raytheon believes that the teams could select a primary/basic training platform this summer, and a preferred bidder is to be announced in 2006.
Australia is looking to replace its PC-9s around 2010-12. In that market, Raytheon stressed that the T-6 is a new aircraft – although the first prototype in the program was based on a PC-9, the T-6 is a more powerful aircraft without a single part in common.
The T-6B is based on the T-6A, in service with the U.S. Air Force and Navy, but has a more capable avionics system including CMC/Flight Visions head-up displays. It has new mission computers that can host features such as an Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation (ACMI) system and a virtual radar (based on GPS and an air-to-air datalink). It also has provisions for armament in a live-weapons-training or light attack role.
Raytheon is pitching the T-6B as an all-new trainer which can take a student who has never flown an airplane to the point where the trainee can safely transition to a high-performance advanced trainer like a Hawk, eliminating the need for a slower primary trainer while saving time on the more expensive jet. The U.S. Navy has no primary trainer or flight screener, says Farley. “What makes that relatively easy is the aircraft’s ease of handling at lower airspeeds, and the fidelity of the ground-based training system.”
At the other end of the scale, the NATO Flight Training in Canada program has, so far, had only has one pilot in 1,000 washed-out in transition from the T-6A to the Hawk. —Bill Sweetman
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