The contract is for 12 Beechcraft T-6TH advanced military training aircraft, ground-based training systems for pilots and maintenance professionals, a mission planning and debrief system, spare parts and ground support equipment. Key milestones of the procurement of 12 Beechcraft T-6TH Texan II training aircraft for the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) signed in October, 2020. T-6TH 22nd Airborne Training Aircraft numbered 01 and 02 took off from the Textron Aviation Defense Company’s Beachcraft Aircraft Factory in Amarillo, Texas, US, for nearly two weeks of intercontinental air travel. 14 locations around the world for refueling including Val d’Or Airport in Quebec, Canada on November 2, 2022, Glasgow International Airport in Scotland, UK on November 4, 2022, and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata, India, before arriving in Thailand.
The Beechcraft T-6 Texan II is a single-engine turboprop aircraft built by the Raytheon Aircraft Company (Textron Aviation since 2014). The T-6 is a development of the Pilatus PC-9, modified by Beechcraft to enter the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS) competition in the 1990s and named for the decades-earlier T-6 Texan. The Model 3000/T-6 is a low-wing cantilever monoplane with enclosed tandem seating for two. It is powered by single Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68 turboprop engine in tractor configuration with an aluminum, 97-inch (8.1 ft; 2.5 m), four-blade, constant-speed, variable pitch, non-reversing, feathering propeller assembly and has retractable tricycle landing gear. The aircraft is fitted with Martin-Baker Mark 16 ejection seats and a canopy fracturing system.
A trainer aircraft based on the Pilatus PC-9, the T-6 has replaced the U.S. Air Force’s Cessna T-37B Tweet and the United States Navy’s T-34C Turbo Mentor. The T-6A is used by the United States Air Force for basic pilot training and Combat Systems Officer (CSO) training, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps for primary Naval Aviator training and primary and intermediate Naval Flight Officer (NFO) training, and by the Royal Canadian Air Force (CT-156 Harvard II), Greek Air Force, Israeli Air Force (Efroni), and Iraqi Air Force for basic flight training. The T-6B is the primary trainer for U.S. student naval aviators (SNAs). The T-6C is used for training by the Mexican Air Force, Royal Air Force, Royal Moroccan Air Force, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
