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

King Air 350(click to view full) 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 […]