Mexico’s T-6C+ Turboprop Planes: SIVA’s 1st Counterpart
Aug 24, 2014 16:10 UTC
In January 2012, Hawker Beechcraft sold an initial order of 6 new T-6C+ military trainers to the Mexican Air Force (FAM), with deliveries to begin to “an advanced training base in Mexico’s northern region” in early 2012. This is almost certainly Santa Gertrudis, in Chihuahua. Terms were not disclosed, but Hawker Beechcraft also advertised the T-6C+ plane’s “[carriage of] external stores and delivering practice weapons for training purposes.”
Latin American aviation expert and author Inigo Guevara added some outside background into the sale, and its rationale. The FAM needs to replace its entire 66-plane Pilatus PC-7/9 fleet over the next decade or so. The FAM also needs planes that can respond to the information relayed by their new Integrated Air Surveillance System (SIVA) of aircraft and ground radars, since their fighter fleet is just a handful of aged F-5E/F jets. The T-6C+ planes are Mexico’s 1st step toward solving these problems.
