The U.S. Navy introduced on Jan. 25 that it awarded Textron Aviation a single, firm-fixed-price contract to develop the T-54A Multi-engine Coaching System (METS) plane. The T-54A (Beechcraft King Air) will present superior instrument and uneven engine dealing with coaching to scholar naval aviators chosen for multi-engine fleet communities. The bottom contract is for $113.1 million for 10 plane. The entire contract worth, together with the bottom and contract choices, is $677.2 million for the procurement of as much as 64 plane. The contract additionally covers assist tools, spares and preliminary coaching. The plane deliveries are scheduled from calendar 12 months 2024 to 2026.
The T-54A plane will exchange the T-44 Pegasus plane, which is an older King Air mannequin initially manufactured by Beechcraft and can function a pressurized plane cockpit with side-by-side seating and a soar seat. The cockpit can be outfitted with multifunction shows with a digital shifting map; redundant ultra-high frequency and really excessive frequency radios; an built-in world positioning system/inertial navigation system; automated dependent surveillance-broadcast; flight administration system; climate radar, radar altimeter, and a cockpit knowledge recorder. The METS plane may even have tricycle touchdown gear and a reconfigurable cargo bay within the cabin.
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“The brand new METS plane will give us the power to coach pilots throughout the companies with a complicated platform that higher represents fleet plane. The T-54A will embrace the most recent avionics and navigational updates, corresponding to digital actuality and augmented actuality gadgets, to make sure pilots are able to face any challenges that come their method in tomorrow’s battlespace,” mentioned Capt. Holly Shoger, Naval Undergraduate Flight Coaching Techniques Program Workplace (PMA-273) program supervisor.
Moreover, the plane’s expertise will seize knowledge that enables for Conditioned-Primarily based Upkeep Plus, a functionality that allows the Navy to development plane well being over time to facilitate improved upkeep planning and effectivity. This contract award will present new plane to coach Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard pilots to fly non-centerline thrust plane such because the V-22 Osprey, E-2D Hawkeye, C-130 Hercules and P-8 Poseidon. The T-44C sunset will start six months after METS’ first supply. PMA-273, at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, oversees the METS program. PMA-273 develops and oversees numerous and carrier-capable naval flight coaching programs the place scholar pilots and undergraduate navy flight officers purchase mission-critical aviation expertise vital to hold out present and future missions of the usNavy.
By Daniel McCoy – Reporter, Wichita Enterprise Journal
Jan 26, 2023
One in every of Wichita’s largest employers has gained a protection contract that may assist drive output on considered one of its most vital manufacturing strains.
The Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) unit of Textron Aviation has been awarded an preliminary contract value $113.1 million on a program that may have it provide the U.S. Navy with Beechcraft King Air turboprops for use by the service for pilot coaching.
However there may be loads of room for development with the Multi-Engine Coaching System (METS) program.
In accordance with a contract announcement from the Navy, the contract permits for the procurement of as much as 64 of the King Air 260 twin-engine turboprops to push the whole potential worth to $677 million.
Textron Aviation builds the King Air at its plant in east Wichita.
The plane can be referred to as the T-54A with the Navy and can be used to exchange the T-44 Pegasus, which is an older King Air mannequin initially manufactured by Beechcraft.
The upgraded King Air 260 variant was initially launched in 2020 as a part of a broader refurbishment of the corporate’s turboprop portfolio.
Textron Aviation, now the mother or father of each Beechcraft and Cessna, may even present assist, spare tools and preliminary coaching on the T-54A.
Deliveries are anticipated to run from 2024 to 2026.
The plane can be used to coach pilots from the Navy, the Marine Corps and Coast Guard.
“The brand new METS plane will give us the power to coach pilots throughout the companies with a complicated platform that higher represents fleet plane,” mentioned Capt. Holly Shoger, program supervisor of the Naval Undergraduate Flight Coaching Techniques Program Workplace. “The T-54A will embrace the most recent avionics and navigational updates, corresponding to digital actuality and augmented actuality gadgets, to make sure pilots are able to face any challenges that come their method in tomorrow’s battlespace.”
Textron Aviation delivered a complete of 35 King Air 250/260 plane in 2022, up 59% 12 months over 12 months.
