On June 15, 2009, Hawker Beechcraft Corporation achieved two major milestones when the T-6 reached one million flight hours and in the delivery of the 500th T-6 airplane to the U.S. On March 26, 2007, Raytheon Aircraft Company became Hawker Beechcraft Corporation, a company formed by GS Capital Partners, and Onex Partners, beginning the next great chapter of two of aviation’s most enduring brands.

On April 4, 2006, Raytheon Aircraft Company delivered the 300th T-6A primary trainer to the U.S. Air Force for the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS). On January 12, 2006, Raytheon Aircraft Company was awarded a $1.1 Billion supply chain contract from the U.S. Currently, aircraft are being delivered to Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, Texas, the second entry-level student training base, and to the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, where naval flight officers training began September 2003. Initial student training began in October 2001 at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. On 04 December 2001 the Air Force approved full-rate production for the JPATS. In early 2001 the Navy decided to discontinue acquisition of the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System for fiscal years 2002 through 2007. The program would be conducted using commercial style practices to the greatest extent possible however, due to the nature of the acquisition strategy, current government acquisition, auditing and domestic content policies would continue to be applied to the prime. The Flight Training System Program Office at Wright-Patterson AFB managed the acquisition of the Texan, seeking to maximize the benefits of allowing the prime contractor to operate using commercial practices with its subcontractors and vendors. This number may increase to some 860 JPATS aircraft, based on projections of the number of aviators both services need and the number of joint squadrons they must develop.

The initial T-6A Texan II program called for buying up to 711 production aircraft (372 for the Air Force and 339 for the Navy) from Raytheon Aircraft Co., Wichita, Kan., at an estimated cost of $4 billion.

T 6b texan ii cockpit