Beech (Raytheon) King Air

he Beech Super King Air family of six – to 10-seat.

twin-turboprop business aircraft evolved from the King Air 90 and King Air 100 to the Model 200 Super King Air, which first flew on 27 October 1972 (the ‘Super’ title was drooped from all King Airs in 1996), The Model 200 was an enlarged, more powerful derivative, with a T-tail, increased wing span, extra fuel and improved pressurisation.

The Model 200 was rapidly adopted by all US armed services, primarily as utility aircraft/light transports, under The designation C-12 Variants include the C-12A (Model A200 for the US Army, USAF and Greece); UC-12B (Model A200C with cargo door for USMC and USN; TC-12B (USN crew trainers converted from C-12B); C-12C (with uprated PT6A-41 engines for US Army, later US Customs Service); C-12D (Model A200CT for US Army, USAh), C-12E (USAF C-12As refitted with PT6A-42s); C-12F (Operational Support Aircraft similar to B200C for USAF, US Army and National Guard); UC-12F (USN equivalent of РТбА-42-powerod C-12F); UC-12M (C-12F equivalent for USN); C-12R (B200C for US Army). The designation C-12J has been applied to a version of the Beech Model 1900 operated by the USAF and Army, while the C-12S is a Model 350 operated by the US Army.

Other military operators of the (Super) King Air include Argentina, Bolivia. Canada, Chile, Colombia Ecuador, Egypt, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Ivory Coast, Jamaica,

Japan (Model 350, local designation LR-2), Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Spain, Sri l. anka, Sweden (local designation Tp 101), Thailand. Turkey and Venezuela. A radar-equipped maritime B200T patrol version serves with Algeria, Peru and Uruguay.

The US Army operates battlefield signals intelli­gence (Sigint) RC-12s, urder the Guardrail programme. Current versions include the RC-12D Improved Guardrail V (Model A200CT, fitted with AN/USD-9 remote-controlled communications inter­cept system, associated antenna and wingtip pods); RC-12G (increased weight version based on RC-12D); RC-12H Guardrail Common Sensor (System -3), increased weight version based on RC 12D: RC-12K Guardrail Commons Sensor (System 4), developed from RC-12F1, also delivered to Israel: RC-12N Guardrail Commons Sensor (System 1), developed from RC-12K with new mission fit; RC-12P Guardrail Commons Sensor (System 2), developed from RC-12N RC-12Q Direct Satellite Relay (relay platform for RC-12P).The US Navy also operates two RC-12M RANSAC range patrol aircraft.