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. Militarization includes 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 synthetic aperture radar (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. The Avionics Modernization Program (AMP), completed in 2023, replaced the flight deck with a commercial glass cockpit.
A total of 73 aircraft, including all CSO-training airframes, were completed prior to USAF beginning fleet drawdown in FY23. Congress barred AETC from retiring an additional 52 aircraft in FY24 until it fully implemented a revamped Undergraduate Pilot Training road map completed in April 2024.
AETC reversed plans to retain the 22 CSO-configured trainers at Pensacola and will instead rely on simulators to conduct future CSO and mobility pilot qualifications.
The final T-1A departed JBSA Randolph on July 15, 2024, followed by Laughlin on Dec. 17. Pensacola began shedding aircraft in February 2025. AETC plans to divest 22 airframes this year prior to completing retirement in FY26.
T-1 Jayhawk Technical Data
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: 86.
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).
