This article first appeared in the January 1990 Flight Test News.
Beech Aircraft Corporation has been awarded a $3.6 million contract from the Department of Defense to provide preliminary design information for an Advanced Technology Tactical Transport (AT3). Under the contract, Beech will assess the applicability of a 62 percent Proof of Concept (POC) aircraft configuration that has flown since December 1987. In addition, Beech will develop preliminary designs for a new lightweight military transport production aircraft as well as a low-cost demonstrator aircraft.
A 62-percent POC, built and flown by Scaled Composites, Inc., completed flight tests this summer. The tandem-wing, twin-boom airplane flew a total of 150 flight hours during test program. A full-scale model of AT3 would weigh about 50,000 pounds and carry 12,000 pounds of payload. The aircraft would have a 2,400 nautical mile range and would be capable of takeoffs and landings within 1,000 feet.
This article first appeared in the January 1990 Flight Test News.
One thought on “Beech Awarded AT3 Design Contract”
Comments are closed.