The Air Force awarded Cessna Aircraft a $88.5 million contract to provide 32 light lift aircraft to the Afghan air force under the Afghanistan Basic Trainer/Lift Family program. With this foreign military sale, Cessna will deliver six T-182Ts and 26 C-208Bs, which are based on the company’s 182 Skylane and 208 Caravan civil models, respectively. These airplanes will support AAF counterinsurgency operations. USAF is also considering procurement of an additional 15 Cessna aircraft to support the training of its air advisors at JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., and is holding open the possibility of buying a further 24 aircraft at some later point, reports Flightglobal. (See also DOD’s May 26 list of major contracts.)
The Air Force is on track to reach its annual goal of graduating 1,500 new pilots that had proved elusive to this point, one year after the service launched a sweeping overhaul of its undergraduate pilot training program, Air Education and Training Command said Sept. 14.
