Wichita, Kan. (Feb. 3, 2016) – Beechcraft Defense Company, LLC, a subsidiary of Textron Aviation Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) company, today announced it has signed a contract with Affinity Flying Training Services to provide 10 Beechcraft T-6C Texan II military training aircraft to the U.K. Ministry of Defence’s Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) program. A second contract has also been signed to include five years of engineering services, parts support, maintenance training and the placement of on-site Field Service Representatives who provide ongoing technical expertise to UKMFTS maintenance personnel.With deliveries beginning in the first quarter of 2018, these aircraft will support team Affinity, a joint venture between Elbit Systems and KBR (Kellogg, Brown and Root), who was selected as the preferred bidder to provide aircraft and maintenance services to the UKMFTS program."We are proud to offer the U.K. Ministry of Defense a proven and highly capable solution that will meet their current and future training needs," said Russ Bartlett, Beechcraft Defense Company. "We look forward to continuing our successful relationship with the UKMFTS program, providing a superior platform to fill its mission requirements as well as outstanding product support."The T-6C trainers will replace Shorts Tucano T1 aircraft and join the fleet of Beechcraft King Air 350ER turboprops, which are already providing live and synthetic radar training for Royal Navy observers as part of the U.K. MFTS Rear Crew Training program.About the T-6CThe Beechcraft T-6C military trainer is an advanced version of the original T-6A with updated cockpit avionics. In order to replicate today’s high-tech frontline aircraft, the new cockpit includes a Head-Up Display (HUD), Up-Front Control Panel (UFCP), three-color Multi-function Displays (MFD), Hands-On Throttle and Stick (HOTAS) as well as advanced synthetic air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons training capabilities. The integrated glass cockpit and a state-of-the-art avionics suite greatly expands its capabilities, enabling the advanced systems and information management skills training required in current and future military aircraft. The T-6C variant maintains avionics similarity with the US Navy’s T-6B while incorporating a hard-point wing to allow carriage of external fuel tanks.Strength of the T-6 platformThe Beechcraft T-6 delivers world-class training capability and is ideally suited for teaching the most basic introductory flight training tasks through the more challenging and complex advanced training missions with low-operating costs. The T-6 is being used to train pilots, navigators, and weapons systems operators from more than 20 countries around the world. To date, Beechcraft has delivered more than 900 T-6 trainers, which have amassed more than 2.6 million flight hours.
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