Monday, September 17, 2012

Hawker Beechcraft has announced its defense division it has completed Phase III of the AT-6 weapons assessment

The plane employs more than 265 bombs and rockets, and firing 3,000 rounds from the AT-6's 50-caliber guns.

The company said that during testing, the AT-6 became the first fixed-wing aircraft to successfully launch GATR, TALON and APKWS 2.75" laser-guided rockets and also achieved a direct hit with the AGM-114 Hellfire II P+ air-to-surface missile.

All weapons testing was accomplished with oversight from the United States Air Force Air Armament Center and the Air National Guard and Air Reserve Command Test Center.

"The future of light attack is here today as proven by the ability of the AT-6 to employ a broad range of weapons that no other light attack aircraft has matched," said Derek Hess, senior vice president, Business Development, HBDC. "The AT-6 leads the light attack field with demonstrated precision weapons capabilities that meet the USAF's Building Partnership Capacity (BPC) needs."

The AT-6 is a multi-role, multi-mission aircraft system designed to meet the spectrum of needs for the emergent Light Attack mission.