The T-1A is a military version of the Beechcraft 400A business jet used in the advanced phase of JSUPT for tanker/transport pilot and CSO training pipelines.
The cockpit seats an instructor and two students. Mods include UHF/VHF radios, INS, TACAN, airborne direction finder, increased bird-strike resistance, and an additional fuselage fuel tank. CSO training aircraft also incorporate GPS-driven SAR and simulated RWR, as well as a second student and instructor station.
Upgrade efforts are focused on avionics modernization and include new MFD and terrain collision avoidance systems. USAF awarded a $156 million Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) contract to replace the type’s obsolescent flight deck with a commercial glass cockpit in 2018, and the first modified aircraft flew in March 2019.
A total of 55 aircraft (including all CSO-training aircraft) will be upgraded using pre-purchased kits. USAF announced plans to divest the majority of the fleet starting in FY23 citing cost-prohibitive obsolescence issues.
The service plans to retain only the 21 CSO-configured trainers at Pensacola. The last of 39 aircraft severely damaged in a hailstorm was rebuilt and redelivered to Laughlin on Dec. 17, 2020.
Contractors: : Beechcraft (airframe); Field Aerospace/Rockwell Collins (AMP).
First Flight: July 5, 1991 (T-1A).
Delivered: Jan. 17, 1992-July 1997
IOC: January 1993.
Production: 180.
Inventory: 178.
Operator: AETC
Aircraft Location: Columbus AFB, Miss.; Laughlin AFB and JBSA-Randolph, Texas; Vance AFB, Okla.; NAS Pensacola, Fla.
Active Variant: •T-1A. Military trainer version of Beechcraft 400A.
Dimensions: Span 43.5 ft, length 48.4 ft, height 13.9 ft.
Weight: Max T-O 16,100 lb.
Power Plant: Two Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D-5B turbofans, each 2,900 lb thrust.
Performance: Speed 538 mph, range 2,555 miles.
Ceiling: 41,000 ft.
Accommodation: Three pilots (two students side by side, instructor in jump-seat); one pilot, one CSO trainee side-by side, instructor in jump-seat, one radar/system student and one instructor at aft-consoles (CSO-training configured aircraft).