The Raytheon T-1A Jayhawk: Advanced Military Training Aircraft

Around Ponca City, Oklahoma, you'll likely hear a familiar whine in the air for most of the year. Many people would call it a Hawker 400, and they would be correct. But more specifically, these are Hawker 400s that belong to the United States Air Force and are called the T-1A Jayhawk. 

The T-1A Jayhawk serves as the advanced trainer for mobility aircraft students. These would be future tanker pilots, future cargo plane pilots, and surveillance & reconnaissance (ISR) pilots. The Jayhawk has a similar flight management system to most of these larger aircraft and similar flying characteristics, making it a natural platform to transition from. Also, it is a simpler aircraft than the other advanced trainer, the T-38 Talon, which is used for fighter and bomber pilots.

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Let's take a look at this great aircraft and find out its purpose, goals, and mission and how Greenwood Aerospace can help those happen.

Beechcraft T-1A Jayhawk Specs

The Jayhawk is a converted business aircraft, so it seats more than two people. But the crew itself is only two; one instructor pilot and one student pilot. However, it does have seating for four additional pilots or passengers if the mission dictates. 

The T-1A Jayhawk was not a replacement for anything. Before its adoption, the only intermediate trainer was the T-38 Talon. The T-38 Talon is a fantastic aircraft that has been in service for about four decades but is a fighter jet. Fighters do not prepare pilots particularly well for flying mobility aircraft or tankers.

A pair of JT15D-5B turbofan engines power the Beechcraft T-1A Jayhawk. Unlike the T-38, these are not after-burning engines.

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While it appears identical to a standard Hawker 400 Business Jet, the T-1A Jayhawk does differ slightly in that it has increased structural hardness for bird strike resistance and an additional fuselage fuel tank. The increased bird strike resistance hardness measures are since a T-1A Jayhawk will spend thousands of hours flying in the traffic pattern at low altitudes that the civilian variant will not. 

Other important characteristics include:

  • Length: 48 ft 5 in 
  • Wingspan: 43 ft 6 in 
  • Height: 13 ft 11 in 
  • Empty weight: 10,450 lb 
  • MGTOW: 16,100 lb

Background & History

As we stated earlier, the T-1A Jayhawk was not a replacement for any existing aircraft in the Air Force inventory. It was selected for similarities in operation and configuration between it and the aircraft it is in the training pipeline for. 

Several KC-135 pilots have commented on how eerily similar it ‘feels’ to fly the Jayhawk as the Stratotanker. The flight management system (FMS) is almost identical, and the overall feel of the aircraft is very similar but much smaller.

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It makes a lot of sense to configure trainers for the type of aircraft student pilots will be assigned to. A tandem-seated seater does not translate well to a tanker with dual MFDs and side-by-side seating. 

The first T-1A Jayhawk was delivered in early 1992 to Reese Air Force Base in Texas, and student training in the aircraft began in 1993. The T-1A is used for advanced training for pilots that will go into tankers or airlift. It is also used for instructor pilot training at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, and Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida for combat systems officer training.

Design & Development

The T-1A Jayhawk was not a one-off design as many military aircraft are. Instead, it is a slightly modified version of the Beechjet/Hawker 400A. Powered by twin turbofan engines, the aircraft can operate up to Mach 0.78, comparable to most aircraft in the airlift and tanker inventories. The idea is that this is a much more comfortable and realistic training aircraft to prepare student pilots for those airframes rather than a fighter jet.

Fighters generally have short-duration sorties, usually an hour or so. Mobility pilots will sometimes spend 10 to 15 hours in the cockpit at a time, so the training aircraft should be realistic and prepare mobility pilots for long hours in the cockpit.

Besides the protection of the bird strike hardness, the T-1A Jayhawk also has a strengthened landing gear system. Civilian versions will almost always fly to a one-to full-stop landing, but these military trainers will do thousands upon thousands of touch-and-go landings, so they must be strengthened to compensate for that. Beyond that, it is basically a Beechjet 400A, and all graduate student Pilots of the T-1A Jayhawk program are Hawker 400 type-certified. 

Avionics

The avionics sweet on the T-1A Jayhawk is quite similar to that of the KC-135 Stratotanker. Collins Aerospace supplies it and consists of the following: 

  • Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS)
  • Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) dual displays
  • Automatic Direction Finder (ADF)
  • VOR
  • HSI
  • ADI
  • ILS with DME. 
  • Ground Proximity Warning Systems
  • TACAN
  • TCAS
  • Radar Altimeter
  • Weather radar system
  • GPS

Engine & Performance

As we said earlier, a pair of JT15D-5B Turbofan engines power the T-1A Jayhawk. These are produced by Pratt & Whitney, and each one is rated for 2,900 lbs of thrust. One interesting feature of these engines is they have a centrifugal compressor which acts as a main high-pressure system.

These engines give this aircraft a maximum speed of about 470 knots, but its cruising speed is more along the line of 390 knots. The rate of climb is about 3,700 ft per minute, and as with most business class jets, it has a service ceiling of 41,000 ft.

Variants

The T-1A Jayhawk has stood the test of time well. It has been in continuous operation for 31 years now and still only has one model.

T-1A

The T-1A is the only model of the Jayhawk in active service and is only used by the Air Force; no other branches of the military operate in the Jayhawk. According to the Air Force, there are 178 units in the inventory. As they age, they require considerable upkeep and maintenance and a steady supply of parts. 

T-400

The only model of Jayhawk outside of the T-1A is the T-400, which the Japanese Defense Forces use as a secondary trainer. Thirteen of these models were built, and they differ slightly from the American T-1A in that a pair of Pratt and Whitney JT15D-5F turbofans power them.

Where Are T-1s Stationed?

T-1s are probably in their final act as Air Force trainers, but they are still the trainer for all mobility track pilots and will continue to be for some time. 

They are currently located at several Air Force Bases, which include:

  • Columbus AFB, Mississippi
  • Laughlin AFB, Texas
  • And Vance AFB, Oklahoma

There has been a movement to replace this training phase exclusively with simulator training. Still, it is unclear if that is anything more than a pipedream of Air Force training doctrine planners. Until a decision is made one way or another, though, the aging fleet of T-1s will continue to operate much as they have.  

The Greenwood Advantage

Greenwood Aerospace is your trusted partner in military aircraft parts procurement. With many decades of experience in first-hand experience with these airframes, we understand them better than most.

Our goal is to not only deliver but over-deliver your needs. We are here to be your trusted partner, not just your contractor. If you are ready to discover the Greenwood difference, give us a call today, or get started with an easy online quote!

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