New Premier I Is Very Much Here in Spirit as Raytheon Rolls Out Future Technology

The future of Raytheon Aircraft was rolled into public view for the first time just weeks ago when the midsize Premier I business jet emerged from the factory doors in Wichita, Kansas.

"Very, very exciting. Those are the best words I can put on it," says Karl Childs, vice president of sales and marketing of the world's largest manufacturer of general aviation aircraft, which last year reported revenues of $2.5 billion.

While the Premier I isn't at NBAA due to demands of its flight test program, it is Raytheon's major talking point here. "It really is the start of the future for us," Childs told Show News. "It's the new technology, the way we see business and general aviation going in the future. This rollout is our major focus for NBAA."

The Premier I features an all-composite fuselage of tough carbon fibers wound around a flexible honeycomb core to create a "sandwich" construction that provides outstanding strength and light weight. Its wing skins are milled to exact tolerances from a single piece of aluminum; six single-piece spars run the length of the structure, providing incredible strength and damage tolerance. Three-dimension computer design processes ensured that the wings and fuselage fit together perfectly; the mating process took less than 30 minutes when the components were assembled for the first time in late July.

Orders for the Premier I stand at almost 130. "That is quite remarkable so early in the program," said Childs, who expects fleet orders for the aircraft to be announced next year. Certification is expected just before the end of this century.

Raytheon is showing several aircraft at NBAA including a King Air 350, Beech jet 400A with new interior, a Hawker 800XP business jet, a 19-passenger Beech 1900D, and the Jaguar Special Edition Beech King Air C90B. It is lucky to have found any aircraft to show at all-for the first time in its history, the company sold every single airplane produced in 1997 and entered 1998 with a backlog and no inventory of any of its 11 models.

Among the stars: the Beechjet 400A, of which 43 commercial sales were delivered compared with 29 the previous year. Childs expects orders to hit 45 this year. "It's the first time they've outsold the Cessna Citation Ultra, if you don't count sales to the Executive Jet Aviation program," he said.

The six- to 10-passenger Hawker 800XP continued to sell well with 33 orders versus 26 the year before, taking half the world market in its class, and with production sold out until late next year. The thousandth Hawker midsize business jet was delivered during 1998. The next Hawker, the super midsize Horizon-incorporating technology seen on the Premier I-is moving ahead in development, with the first production wing due to arrive in Wichita early next year from Fuji Heavy Industries.

Orders for the Horizon are currently "in the 20s" said Childs, "but they will likely go up as the program advances."

Deliveries of King Air C90Bs, B200s and were 18 percent up on the previous year, at 116 versus 98, with 35 percent going outside the United States.

More than a third of Raytheon Aircraft's commercial turbine products were delivered outside North America during 1997. Nearly 25 percent of last year's Hawker 800XPs were placed internationally, with eight of 33 going to Pacific Rim and European countries. Three Hawkers in special mission configuration were delivered to the Japan Air Self Defense Force as U-125A reconnaissance aircraft. Nineteen of the 43 Beechjet 400As went to customers outside the U.S., including operators in Malaysia, Australia, and Philippines, as well as Latin American and European nations.

By John Morris