Yesterday, the first 2 new Beechcraft T-6C Texan II training aircraft arrived in Colombia, out of a total of 8 acquired in 2020.
According to the press release of the Colombian Air Force (FAC for its initials in Spanish), the official reception ceremony took place at the Air Combat Command No.1. It was attended by the Minister of National Defense, Diego Molano Aponte, and General Ramsés Rueda Rueda, Commander of the Colombian Air Force.
The two T-6C Texan II aircraft were put into service for the training of military pilots. These aircraft have the latest technology that will allow the strengthening of capacities and the development of skills of the pilots of its Colombian Air Force.
The T-6C TEXAN II is characterized as the safest and most rigorously tested military training aircraft with high acceptance and reliability. It is a low-wing aircraft with aerodynamic features that give it high maneuverability at low and high speeds.
With the arrival of these aircraft, a generational change is also made, where the 13 T-37B “TWEET” aircraft that completed more than 50 years of operation in the Military Forces and were used for military flight training will remain on the ground.
»The country needs a modern Air Force for its defense, it needs well-trained and qualified pilots to have in their hands the best tool for the defense of national sovereignty. Today we give these young Colombian pilots the best aircraft to train who will be the pilots who will integrate and develop the Air Force of the future.» were the words of Mr. General Ramsés Rueda Rueda, Commander FAC.
For his part, the Minister of Defense, Diego Molano Aponte, assured: »With the delivery of these aircraft we are going to train a new generation of combat pilots and thus strengthen the capabilities of our Air Force, in the first place, to exercise more sovereignty, secondly, so that technology and innovation become part of that new generation that allows us not only to be part of this Air Force in Colombia, but also to be part of a multinational task force like the one developed in NATO.»
The incorporation of the 8 Texan IIs, together with its 14 deeply modernized Embraer EMB-312 Tucanos, represent one of the steps the FAC is taking to update its assets to current standards.
Meanwhile, the main modernization project, which is the replacement of its IAI Kfir with a new fighter, remains on standby until the Colombian economic and social situation allows it.
