Army buys Beechcraft King Air 360ER turboprop aircraft with avionics and synthetic vision for Sri Lanka
REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – U.S. Army aviation experts needed a twin-engine turboprop aircraft for a variety of missions ranging from personnel and cargo movements to electronic intelligence for the Sri Lanka military. They found their solution from Textron Aviation Inc. in Wichita, Kan.
Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., announced an $11.4 million contract to Textron Aviation on Monday for new commercial Beechcraft King Air 360ER aircraft and avionics for Sri Lanka.
The King Air 360ER turboprop is designed to reduce pilot workload with features like the Innovative Solutions & Support Inc. (IS&S) ThrustSense Autothrottle, which delivers precision control for optimized power output -- including overtorque/overtemp protection for a more efficient takeoff.
Digital pressurization automatically schedules cabin pressure on climb and descent for passenger comfort and to reduce pilot workload. Features include digital pressurization indication; Collins Aerospace Pro Line Fusion avionics suite; three 14 inch touchscreen displays; synthetic vision; graphical flight planning; integrated charts and maps; engine indicating and crew alerting system; dual flight management system; multi-scan weather radar system; integrated terrain awareness and warning system; Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance (TCAS II); automatic flight guidance system; and dual navigation and communication radios.
The King Air 360ER is 46.6 feet long, 14.3 feet high, and has a wingspan of nearly 58 feet. It can carry as many as 11 people with 550 pounds of baggage. It can fly as fast as 303 knots, has a maximum of 2,539 nautical miles, and can fly as high as 35,000 feet.
The plane has two Pratt & Whitney Canada Hartzell PT6A-60A turboprop engines and four-blade aluminum constant-speed propellers with auto-feathering.
The plane's Collins Aerospace Pro Line Fusion avionics offers touch-control primary flight displays; graphical touch-screen flight planning; presets to reconfigure all three displays; multi-sensor flight management system; integrated touch screen checklists; automatic wireless database and chart uploads; and an open and scalable electronics architecture for future upgrades and mandates.
The avionics also offers DO-260B compliant ADS-B, SBAS-capable GNSS; localizer performance with vertical guidance (LPV) approaches; radius-to-fix legs; and multiple input methods for heads-up flying.
On this contract Textron Aviation will do the work in Wichita, Kan., and should be finished by September 2025. For more information contact Textron Aviation online at https://beechcraft.txtav.com, or the Army Contracting Command-Redstone at https://acc.army.mil/contractingcenters/acc-rsa/.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
