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A Beechcraft 200T. Obscured from view is the underbelly-mounted 360-degree search radar and the FUR which is housed directly aft of the radome
Beech Offer Interesting Alternatives In Special Mission King Air and 1900 Aircraft
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With more than 4000 King Airs built to date and with all four Defence services operating more than 200of the type it was not surprising that Beechcraft would come up with further innovative variants on the King Air theme.
The Wichita-based company’s latest such offering recently visited Australia where it created considerable interest amongst the RAAF, the newly created Coastal Protection Unit and a number of specialist SAR authorities. Designated a Super King Air 200T, this aircraft is basically a standard 8200 model featuring the latest in state-of-the-art equipment to give it a similar, albeit shorter-ranging, capability to aP-3 Orion. On the surface this might sound like a gross exaggeration of capability but in reality technology has advanced so much in the past decade that systems that once required large airframes can now be housed quite effectively in relatively small aircraft.
The 200T for instance has a full sonobuoy dropping and tracking capability, has a FUR system, a sonics process or and a 360degree search radar. While its seven to eight hour endurance pales in comparison to a P-3 the fact that it has only six crew and costs about one quarter per flying hour to operate tends to place its overall mission capability in perspective.
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