Country of origin:

Switzerland

Description:

Two-seat military trainer

Power Plant:

One 1,200 kw (1,600 shp) Pratt & Whitney PT6A-68B turboprop

Specifications:

Armament:

Nil

History:

Since the 1970s Pilatus Aircraft at Stans in Switzerland has been involved in the design and development of turboprop-power trainers for air forces, resulting in the PC-7, PC-9, and later the PC-21.  In June 1995 the Company released a redesigned development of the PC-9 which won the USAF and US Navy JPATS competition for a standard training aircraft to be used by both services, with some 780 examples built under licence as the Beech T-6A Texan II.  A lot of the development work for the Texan was performed by Raytheon / Beech, and in December 1997 it was announced the T-6A would be replacing the Embraer Tucano as the basic trainer operated by NATO Flying Training in Canada alongside the Bae Hawk.

Eventually Pilatus had discussion with operators of its trainers and decided to look at the needs and flying characteristics of future pilots, demand being for improved aircraft performance, reduced life-cycle costs and high integration of the aircraft in training schedules. The new aircraft became known as the PC-21. Described as “a radically new design” the prototype PC-21 (HB-HZA – c/n P01) was flown for the first time on 1 July 2002 at Stans.  This aircraft differed externally from the PC-9 in a number of ways, including a five-blade Hartzell composite propeller, short span wings incorporating sweepback, and a cockpit featuring three large LCD displays for each pilot.

The PC-21 is a single-engine, low wing monoplane with seating for two in tandem.  It is designed for basic, advanced and fighter lead in training and is stressed to +8 / -4G.  Double extending Fowler flaps are installed to maintain a stalling speed below 148 km/h (92 mph) and the wing is equipped with a combination of ailerons and spoilers to give a high rate of roll.  Engine installed is the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68B with a Power Management System which restricts power to 670 kw (898 hp).  The crew has Martin Baker Mk 16L zero-zero ejection seats with command ejection.

A second prototype (HB-HZB – c/n P02) joined the test programme in 2004, making its first flight on 7 June that year. This incorporated a number of improvements, including hydraulically powered ailerons, improved power management mapping and various interface improvements in the cockpit area. However, this aircraft was lost in an accident at Stans on 13 January 2005 which delayed the program.

Full production commenced in mid-2004 and first customer deliveries began in November that year.  The first example of the PC-21 seen in this region was brought to Australia in 2005 and demonstrated at the Australian International Air Show at Avalon, VIC. In early 2007 the Singapore Government announced it was leasing nineteen examples of the PC-21 to replace the Siai Marchetti S.211 trainers in operation with the Republic of Singapore Air Force in the training role, stating these aircraft would be, like the former jet trainer, based at the RAAF base at Pearce in Western Australia, deliveries to the base to commence on 1 April 2008.  On 4 April 2008 an Antonov Airlines An-124 delivered the first six examples to RAAF Pearce.  The aircraft are attached to No 130 Squadron, RSAF.  In 2010 a PC-21 HB-HZD conducted a month long demonstration tour for the RAAF, the type being a contender for the ADF project 5428 pilot training system program to replace the PC-9.

In early September 2015 the Australian Government announced it was obtaining 49 examples of the PC-21 for the RAAF (serials A54-001 to A54-049), with 22 examples to be based at East Sale in Victoria for training of pilots for the RAAF.  They are operated in a pool arrangement by the Basic Flying Training School, Central Flying School and the Roulettes aerobatic team. These aircraft are operated by a Lockheed Martin led team for the new Pilot Training System but in the meantime the basic pilot training for the Air Force was continued by BAe Systems Australia at Tamworth, NSW until the end of 2019 when the new type entered service. Three were attached to RAAF Edinburgh, SA for use by ARDU and four were allotted to No 4 Squadron at Williamtown, NSW for JTAC training. The remainder of the fleet of PC-21s were to be attached to RAAF Base Pearce in Western Australia for continuation training.

The Australian PC-21s have provision for four underwing pylons and a fuselage centreline station giving it a capability of carrying up to 1,150 kg (2,535 lb) of external stores but at the time of entry into service there was no requirement for weapons training with the type. The RAAF aerobatic team, the Roulettes, operates the type, carrying two Sanders SCSG-5A Self Contained Smoke Generator pods on the underwing hardpoints controlled via the aircraft’s “Hands on Throttle and Stick [HOTAS] controls.

All aircraft were built in Switzerland by Pilatus and were ferried to Australia where delivery was taken. There was no plan for aircraft assembly in Australia. From 2019 BFTS at East Sale, VIC is programmed to have an annual intake of 165 trainee pilots with 105 pilots to graduate each year.  First example for the RAAF (A54-001 – c/n 234 ex-HB-HWA) made its first flight at the Pilatus facility at Stans on 21 July 2016.  It was handed over to the RAAF in June 2017 after completion of testing and verification in Switzerland and Australia. The second aircraft A54-002 (c/n 235 – ex HB-HWB) made its first flight at Stans on 8 August 2016.

The PC-21 forms the aerial element of the ADF fixed wing Flight Training System for trainee pilots for all three services. This system includes extensive use of simulation, synthetic trainers and computer based courseware with the total package provided by Lockheed Martin, Pilatus and Hawker Pacific.  State of the art training facilities have been developed at East Sale and Pearce and seven PC-21 flight simulators have been obtained.

The first two PC-21s for the RAAF aerobatic team, the Roulettes, arrived in Darwin, NT as HB-HWS and HB-HWT from Kupang, Indonesia on 21 July 2018, continuing on to their base at East Sale, VIC on 22 July, becoming A54-019 and A54-020 respectively. Last of the PC-21s under Project Air 5428 arrived at RAAF East Sale in December 2019.

Ten pilots completed the first phase of initial flight training at RAAF Sale, VIC on 12 July 2019, being part of the re-commissioned No 1 Flying Training School, and afterwards moved on to the next phase of training at No 2 FTC at Pearce, WA. Examples have been attached to the Australian Research and Development Unit (ARDU) at Edinburgh, SA and No 4 Squadron at RAAF Williamtown for Forward Air Control training.