Grob’s G120TP aerobatic trainer has been selected as part of a new training system for the U.S. Army fixed-wing fleet, as well as for students destined for the U.S. Air Force King Air fleet. The system will allow the Army to train initial-entry fixed-wing students for the first time, and also provide fixed-wing conversion for rotary-wing pilots. Student throughput will be more than 600 each year.

CAE was awarded the contract for a company-owned and operated training center at Dothan Regional Airport in Alabama, close to the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker. This is due to open in June 2016.

In addition to a suite of ground-based training tools, the school will conduct live training with six CAE-owned G 120TPs, along with a fleet of 10 C-12U King Airs that are owned and maintained by the Army but flown by CAE instructors. The value of the contract with Grob is $30 million.

Grob’s G 120TP offers fully certified aerobatic capability and a glass cockpit. The ability to undertake upset training (recovery from unusual attitudes) was an important criterion in the selection of the aircraft, as was the aircraft’s turbine powerplant. The Rolls-Royce M250-B17F turboprop develops 380 shp in maximum continuous power, but can develop 456 shp for up to five minutes. The aircraft is stressed for +6g/-4g aerobatics, and has a top speed of 235 knots.

CAE is producing two G 120TP flight training devices to complement the live training aircraft, as well as a suite of desktop trainers. For King Air training, the company is initially supplying two 7000XR Series full flight simulators (FFS) and two integrated procedures trainers.

It is also developing two more FFSs that feature roll-on/roll-off cockpits that allow the simulators to accurately represent four different King Air variants in U.S. Army and Air Force service.