new warbird, looks cool

[CAPFlyer]

If they really wanted a competition, they should have allowed in Air Tractor, who they omitted on a technicality.

What they didn't want their USAF instructors to be embarrassed by not being able to fly tail-wheel?

No, it was something else technical that "disqualified" them from the initial bidding, but I don't remember what it was. AT didn't squawk too much though, so they must've felt the USAF was correct in their assessment. I think they had a chance to get back in but missed the deadline as well, which kinda put a nail in it.

[cwmc]

Hope that Air Tractor has a different wing than the one that failed claiming Joe Henderson's life.
Chris...

[The Inspector]

$16.75 Million EACH! for that kind of money you can pick up a used 737-300.

But then, it seems to fit the current Pentagonal trapezoidal conundrum thinking where it's OK to take three decades to bring the F-35 to full squadron use (LocoWeed/Pentagon joint pronouncement before the airplane flew '350 months from first flight to squadron usage') @ a cost of a gajillion dollars each and a build rate of 6 or 8 on big production years, and 3-5 on other years 'Each and every HILOK individually hand forged and machined by elves in the Black Forest from hand harvested Titanium sand'.

Since, in effect 'I' am paying the bills, it would seem logical that 'I' would expect something that would cover my old rear end now, not when I'm 95.
And, do we REALLY need yet another PC-7/9 knockoff, again with each individual fastener hand forged by elves?

Time to blow what I call 'the B.S. whistle' on that sort of thinking.

[tinbender2]

I can personally vouch for the Air Tractor's ability to withstand serious small arms fire when doing low level work.

I worked on a few of them that sprayed drug crops in South America. Every one had at least 50 bullet holes, and always made it back. They were armored.

The pilots carried pistols, in case they were shot down. Not for self protection, but to end their own lives before being captured/tortured by the drug cartels. Some of their torture stories were pretty gruesome.

[CAPFlyer]

$16.75 Million EACH! for that kind of money you can pick up a used 737-300.

Apples and oranges though. Each Super Tucano will come with the airplane, parts, and support for the next 10+ years included (depending on the exact wording of the contract, but that's pretty standard for DoD procurement). It usually also includes the manufacturer training your initial cadre of instructors as well in that cost. With the 737-300, you get the plane. That's it. No spares, no support from Boeing, no training for your mechanics and crews.

That's one of the things I really do hate about DoD procurement. They amortize so many costs into the "per aircraft" price that you really don't know how much the plane itself costs and whether the DoD is getting a good deal. You have to wade through thousands of pages of information to finally find what it costs for the airframe and equipment onboard only, and then you have to figure out if that includes cost of GFE like the engine, avionics, and pyro or not.

I once dug through the F-15E initial build contract award (back in the late 1990's and yes, I had no life as a teenager... in fact, I really still don't have one ). The widely reported number was that each F-15E cost the USAF ~$50 million in FY1990 dollars. When I broke it down, I think the actual airframe, non-classified avionics (i.e. the stuff MacDac actually bought to put on the plane), and engines (which were a separate contract) came out to like $15 million a copy and all the ancilliary stuff (manufacturer support, spares for that airframe, amortized development costs, etc) made up the other $35 million. Now, that contract was supposed to cover all the non-GFE equipment purchasing requirements for the first 10 years of the airframe including quantitative spare parts (i.e. the ones you know you'll need every "x" hours/years of service), overhaul and maintenance at the depot and manufacturer level of certain structures by the manufacturer, manufacturer on-site support (aka AOG), and document support (i.e. flight/maintenance manual updates).

When you think about it, those prices aren't too unreasonable for an airplane that is capable of doing almost 3 times as much as a single B-17 was in WWII and which (in FY1990 dollars) cost ~$2.5 million per copy.

[wendovertom]

Hawker Beechcraft is speaanding a lot of $$ on getting thisthing turned thier way. In addition to the website afore mentioned, they are sending out a "factory demo" T-6II on the air show circuit this year.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hawker-Be ... 0976202344

Serious cash being spent here. . .

Tom P.

[Tombstoner139]

Nice looking aircraft. i enjoyed the dented nose on the A-10.
I think all of those aircraft need some form of camera operated ball turret, even the A-10.

[brucev]

If they really wanted a competition, they should have allowed in Air Tractor, who they omitted on a technicality.

What they didn't want their USAF instructors to be embarrassed by not being able to fly tail-wheel?

No, it was something else technical that "disqualified" them from the initial bidding, but I don't remember what it was. AT didn't squawk too much though, so they must've felt the USAF was correct in their assessment. I think they had a chance to get back in but missed the deadline as well, which kinda put a nail in it.

tearing up the prototype may not have helped Air Tractors case

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y8GR4FDu7g

Hope that Air Tractor has a different wing than the one that failed claiming Joe Henderson's life.
Chris...

one has to wonder if the 2000hr inspection was ever done on that aircraft. airframe and engine logbooks disappearing and never being found is just a little odd.