Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC

The US Navy has placed a first sizeable order for Raytheon T-6A Texan turboprop trainers, confounding rumours it was considering pulling out of the USAir Force-led Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS) programme.

An eighth batch of T-6s has been ordered from Raytheon under a contract worth $148 million. It comprises 24 for the USN and 35 for the USAF. The navy purchased its first seven aircraft last year.

"This lot option is a reaffirmation of the navy's commitment to the JPATS programme," says David Riemer, vice-president, government business for Raytheon Aircraft. Deliveries to the USN will begin next year against a planned procurement of 328 aircraft by 2017.

The latest USAF contract takes T-6 orders to 137 of a planned 454. Initial operational capability with 15 aircraft at the first training base, Moody AFB in Georgia, is on track for June, says Raytheon.

Riemer says development is essentially finished, with the completion of icing tests. The USAF requested the additional tests to ensure the T-6, which does not have de-icing, could transition through light rime ice.

Operational testing is also finished. Riemer says fixes have been found for problems identified by testers: the UHF antenna will be moved to improve reception and an air conditioning system with twice the capacity will be fitted.

Approval for full-rate production was scheduled for February, but has been delayed by a year. Negotiations on the first lot, hopefully for 70 aircraft, will now begin later this year and Raytheon is likely to seek a price increase. Prices for the first eight lots - 167 aircraft - were fixed when Raytheon was awarded the JPATS contract. "We would have liked to have made more money," admits Riemer.

Raytheon has delivered all 24 T-6s for Bombardier's NATO Flying Training in Canada programme. The first 25 aircraft for Greece will have been delivered by the end of this year, to be followed by another 20 with hardpoints and fixed sight. "We are working a couple of other countries actively," says Riemer.

Source: Flight International