Sierra Nevada Corporation demonstrated the King Air 350 Extended Range (ER) Mission Enhancement Kit in Huntsville, Alabama this week. SNC has teamed with Vector-Hawk Aerospace (VHA) a subsidiary government and military sales division of Blackhawk Modifications in Waco, Texas, and Advent Aircraft Systems, Inc. of Tulsa, Oklahoma to offer the Mission Enhancement Kit.
“Sierra Nevada Corporation is excited to work with Vector-Hawk and Blackhawk, world leaders in aircraft performance improvements, to offer this capability for greatly increased performance in high-density altitude areas of operation,” said Tim Owings, corporate vice president of SNC’s Integrated Mission Systems business area. ”The Advent eABS system and True Blue battery offer best-of-breed technology and capability. This will truly be a game changer, offering increased safety, performance and mission capability.”
The Mission Enhancement Kit is specifically designed for the King Air 350ER at 16,500 and 17,500 pounds maximum allowable takeoff weight (MTOW), and is specifically developed for military and government operations. The offering will include two factory-new Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) PT6A-67A engines, a new MT 5-bladed composite propeller assemblies and spinners, a True Blue Power lithium-ion battery and Advent’s Electronic Anti-Skid Braking (eABS) system. Training, support and a five-year/2,500 hour enhanced new-engine warranty are also included.
The new product will provide a 25-30 percent increase in power, which translates into improved climb and cruise performance for King Air 350ERs especially during operations in high-density altitudes (high, hot). Although the PT6A-67A will produce a 400 thermodynamic shaft horsepower (SHP) increase over the stock PT6A-60A, the Mission Enhancement Kit will actually reduce the overall weight of the aircraft by about 18 pounds.
“Blackhawk is proud to be teamed with a company like SNC on this program,” said Jim Allmon, Blackhawk’s president and CEO. “With Blackhawk’s engineering and branding expertise coupled with SNC’s military and government reach, this program will prove to be highly successful. Our government and military division, Vector-Hawk, was instrumental in the facilitation of the program, and my congrats go to VHA President, Pete Franks, for his efforts to team us with SNC.”
Testing is underway at Blackhawk headquarters in Waco, Texas, and the Federal Aviation Administration Supplemental Type Certification (STC) is expected to be completed early in the second quarter of 2018. Once approved, SNC will exclusively provide the Mission Enhancement Kit, including the Blackhawk Engine+ Upgrade STC Kit, Advent eABS and True Blue battery, to the Special Missions market for U.S. and most foreign governments/military aircraft weighing 16,500 lbs. and above. SNC will complete the installations at their network of authorized install facilities.
Sierra is no stranger to modifying King Air 350 for special missions; they were contracted to modify two King Air 350 for Saudi Arabia last year.
(Source: Sierra Nevada Corporation)