RAYTHEON HAS revealed it will launch a new light business-jet later this year - probably at the NBAA show in September.
The aircraft will be a competitor to Cessna's entry-level CitationJet, and is expected to offer a large cabin for the class.
Compared with the all-composite, canard-pusher, Beech Starship twin-turboprop, now out of production, but which the US company is now selling against the CitationJet, the new aircraft will have conventional aerodynamics.
At the same time, the company is planning to increase production of the Hawker 800 and 1000 following a surge in demand for the mid-sized business jets. All available 1000s have already been sold, and the company is offering potential customers the smaller 800.
The Raytheon board is scheduled to meet soon to decide how to meet demand for the Hawker family. Assembly of the 800, which is to be transferred to the USA by 1997, will have to be increased, the company admits. Assembly of the 1000, was scheduled to be suspended, in 1997, on completion of the last UK-produced aircraft, but is now likely to be transferred to the USA.
Raytheon will produce 24 Hawkers - 21 800s and three 1000s - this year.
Contributing to demand for the Hawker family is Raytheon's decision to use the 800 as a sensor platform for the Brazilian SIVAM Amazon-surveillance programme.
Source: Flight International
