$48.8M Buys 6 King Air 350s for US Marines

$48.8M Buys 6 King Air 350s for US Marines

16 July, 2008: Hawker Beechcraft Corp. in Wichita, KS received an estimated $48.8 million firm-fixed-price contract from the US Navy for 6 C-12 replacement aircraft. Work will be performed in Wichita, KS and is expected to be completed in February 2011. This contract was competitively procured via electronic request for proposal by the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, MD manages the contract (N00019-08-C-0057). The aircraft are actually destined for the US Marines, as the replacement contract for a UC-12 fleet that’s more than 25 years old. See also NAVAIR release. The old C-12/UC-12 is also known as the Huron, and was derivative of the civilian Beechcraft King Air 200. It can land on airfields under 3,000 feet in length, and is used for VIP and light transport duties. These short-field capabilities, coupled with the small size of many urgent needs on the front lines, have pressed many of these aircraft into service in theater. Hawker Beechcraft has confirmed that the Marines’ new light utility aircraft will be variants of the new King Air 350C, however, a slightly larger aircraft with 23.5% more engine power, improved speed and rate of climb, and slightly more load-carrying capacity. The Australian RAAF and the Iraqi Air Force have also bought the new King Air 350; Iraq ordered it for light transport duties (1 plane), and as a specialized intelligence & surveillance platform (4 planes). The new King Air 350Cs do not yet have a formal military designation, but one thing they will have is protective systems. In contrast, American UC-12s have often had their in-theater flights limited or at risk due to their their lack of protection against shoulder fired ground-air missiles like the SA-7. Fortunately, Iraqi flights have become much less dangerous these days. Tribal revolts against al-Qaeda, the corollary improvements in local intelligence, and a strategy of targeting Iranian operatives in theater, have combined to put a strong crimp in key sources of missiles and trained manpower that contributed to this threat.