Aircraft
Textron Unveils New Special Missions Capabilities
The Wichita airframer has begun offering an extended nose option for its King Air 350, and the Longitude gets a new mission.
Textron Aviation's first special mission application for its new Cessna Citation Longitude will be a flight inspection aircraft for Japan's Civil Aviation Bureau. (Photo: Textron Aviation)
Textron Aviation's first special mission application for its new Cessna Citation Longitude will be a flight inspection aircraft for Japan's Civil Aviation Bureau. (Photo: Textron Aviation)

General aviation manufacturer Textron Aviation comes to the 2019 Dubai Airshow with an emphasis on special missions aircraft, announcing a new option for the Beechcraft King Air 350 and a new role for the recently certified super-midsize Cessna Citation Longitude. The Wichita airframer will introduce an FAA-certified option for extending the nose of the 350 that provides 12 cubic feet of extra space and is capable of holding 250 pounds of extra equipment.

“We’ve actually delivered the first couple of them already and there are a lot of different missions possible with those,” Textron v-p of defense and special missions sales Bob Gibbs told AIN. “We’ve got different equipment we can put up there for different customers.” He declined to disclose the first customer for the extended-nose option.