King Air still in high demand for hot-and-high recon missions | Aviation International News

King Air still in high demand for hot-and-high recon missions

How much more performance can be extracted from the King Air twin turboprop to satisfy surveillance requirements? The latest Model 350ER offers almost doub

By Chris Pocock • Defense Correspondent

June 9, 2009

How much more performance can be extracted from the King Air twin turboprop to satisfy surveillance requirements? The latest Model 350ER offers almost double the range and payload of the early King Airs, first flown more than 40 years ago. But in a quest to offer short-field performance from hot-and-high airfields, Hawker Beechcraft Corp. is investigating further aerodynamic improvements, as well as hardpoints for external sensors and higher power versions of the aircraft’s Pratt & Whitney PT6A turboprops.

Recent sales have all been destined for hot or high environments. The Iraqi air force is now flying the six 350ERs acquired for it by the U.S. Air Force in a deal that was worth $132 million to Hawker Beechcraft. Five of them are equipped for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. The manufacturer recently delivered the first of 23 more King Air 350ERs to the USAF for Project Liberty, a program to boost the service’s manned ISR capabilities in Iraq and Afghanistan (see below).

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