Beechcraft's AT-6 Texan II vs Embraer's Super Tucano A-29
The AT-6 has an integrated surveillance/attack mission system derived from the avionics package in the upgraded A-10C Thunderbolt II attack aircraft. The aircraft has flexible, reconfigurable hard points with seven external store stations. It can carry a wide variety of sensors and ordnance and several types of pod-mounted guns. The AT-6 is also outfitted with the CMC Esterline digital Cockpit 4000 avionics and controls suite and L-3 WESCAM’s MX-15Di electro-optical infrared (EO/IR) sensor pod. The aircraft is also equipped with an ALQ-213 EW Management System, ARC-210 radios with secure voice/data and SATCOM (satellite communications). According to former Rep. Todd Tiahart (R-Kan) “the aircraft nearly every U.S. pilot is trained on” is “ideally suited” for light combat operations while retaining about 85 percent commonality in parts and supplies with the ubiquitous trainer version.
The Super Tucano carries two .50-caliber machine guns in the wing with a rate of fire of 1,100 rounds per minute, has five hardpoints under the wing and one under the fuselage. The Brazilian military version has features that can be provided with an LAS variant, including a full glass cockpit with twin LCD (liquid crystal display) multifunction displays (MFDs). The Super Tucano is the longer, larger and heavier of the two aircraft. According to Rep. Allen B. West (R-Fla), the Super Tucano “has logged over 100,000 flight hours, 16,000 of which have been in combat without a loss.” Seven countries are using 173 Super Tucanos around the world today.