ATAC Selected as Provider of Training for Navy’s TACT Program

WASHINGTON — Textron Airborne
Solutions, a business unit of Textron Inc., announced on May 1 that its
Airborne Tactical Advantage Company subsidiary (ATAC) has been selected as a
provider of contracted air services under the U.S. Navy’s Terminal Attack
Controller Trainer (TACT) program.

Training provided under the IDIQ contract
will be led by ATAC and includes a team made up of Textron Aviation Defense and
the Valkyrie Defense family of companies. They will deliver contracted live-air
training to forward air controllers, joint terminal attack controllers (JTACs)
and forward air controllers (Airborne) on ATAC’s L-39 Albatros, Textron
Aviation Defense’s Beechcraft AT-6 Wolverine light attack and armed
reconnaissance aircraft and Valkyrie’s A-27 Tucanos.

“TACT is a marked increase in both the
quality and quantity of JTAC training services demanded by the U.S. Navy and
Marine Corps. ATAC’s world-class team is pleased to provide the most
mission-representative JTAC training solutions available,” said Russ Bartlett,
CEO of Textron Airborne Solutions.

“Textron Aviation Defense is proud to be on
this air services contract to equip the TACT community with the Beechcraft AT-6
Wolverine’s cost-effective, high-performance close air support capability,”
said Brett Pierson, vice president of Light Attack Aircraft and Scorpion. “The
Navy and Marine Corps flew the AT-6 during the U.S. Air Force Light Attack
experiments and are well-acquainted with its unparalleled mission capability
and optimized battlespace networking capability.”

“Everyone at Valkyrie Defense’s family of
companies is excited to be working with ATAC in providing the best contracted
close air support and JTAC training available. We look forward to fulfilling
the needs of the U.S. warfighter for years to come with our fleet of aircraft,”
said Charlie Keebaugh, CEO of Valkyrie Aero.

ATAC has a fleet of more than 90 aircraft,
having pioneered much of what are now contracted air services industry
standards with 20 years of operating experience and 57,000 flight hours. For
the past 15 years, ATAC has provided a wide range of contracted close air
support capabilities to U.S. Department of Defense JTAC communities across
Europe, continental U.S., Hawaii and the western Pacific region. The only
contractor that has operated supersonic fighter aircraft for the DoD, ATAC has
helped train crews from the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps and regularly
operates out of as many as 25 different bases per year.

Textron Airborne Solutions
focuses on live military air-to-air, air-to-ship and air-to-ground training and
support services. Within Textron Airborne Solutions is Airborne Tactical
Advantage Company (ATAC), a business that provides tactical flight training and
adversary aggressor services for Navy, Marine and Air Force pilots.