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Beechcraft HU-25A 'GUARDIAN'

Description
Notes: SEMI-MONOCOQUE, low cantilever wing, monoplane, retractable tricycle landing gear. Used for search and rescue, marine environmental protection, law enforcement and marine science (5 CREW, 3 PASSENGER
  Manufacturer:Beechcraft


  Base model:U-25
  Designation:HU-25
  Version:A
  Nickname:GUARDIAN
  Designation System:U.S. Air Force
  Designation Period:1952-Present
  Basic role:Utility
  Modified Mission:Search and Rescue

Specifications

Propulsion

Performance


 

Recent comments by our visitors
 ATC Bailey
 , FL
PO West is 100% accurate in his details. I have 18 years flying all 4 variants. The latest upgrades being performed by Northrop Grumman (California Microwave Systems) in Hagerstown MD.
01/31/2006 @ 06:59 [ref: 12376]
 P. F. Gabriel
 Alamogordo, NM
Seems to me AT2 West has got his facts pretty close.
I am sitting here with a discarded Log for an aircraft manufactured by Avions Marcel Dassault, it is a Dassault Sud Fan Jet Falcon "Series F" Constructor's No. 394 the Registration was N-178F. Paris, 28 SEPT 1979.

And if I remember, it was the Falcon Plant in Little Rock I went to each working day for about four years. Seems like it was the Coast Guard Aircraft Program Office.
03/25/2002 @ 22:11 [ref: 4585]
 AT2 L.J. West
 CGAS Cape Cod 80-84, NJ
This aircraft is a Falcon Jet product, not a Beechcraft. Falcon Jet (IIRC, A US subsidiary of Dassault) created the HU-25A from the Dassault Falcon 20. In order to meet a) the operational requirements of USCG and b) the mandated US content percentage, Falcon Jet did three things.

1) replaced the GE engines with Garret ATF 3-6 high-bypass, low IR signature turbofans
2) used a 90% redundant Collins avionics package, including dual HF, VHF, NAV & Transponders; military UHF, MArine/Law Enforcement FM radio, RNAV, Inertial Nav, LORAN-C, TACAN, and APS-128 Radar
3) modified Falcon 20 airframes for SAR duties, including 2 large Search windows, a drop hatch in the floor with trolley system for dropping pumps or rafts, camera port forward of the main door, loud hailer system, automatically deploying EPIRB, different airbrakes and wing 'fences', a powerful turbine APU, auxiliary fuel tank and hard points on the fuselage and wings for the SLAR and AIREYE sensor suites.

IIRC, the airframes were assembled in France, test flown for the airworthiness certificate (with 'standard' GE engines and avionics), then disassembled and packed off to the USA. At Grumman, the airframe mods were done (windows, hatch, fuel tank, etc.), then the aircraft went to Little Rock, AR for final assembly and installation of the avionics. From here, delivery was made to the USCG.

The Falcon 200 was actually created *after* the HU-25, from the lessons learned with it. Basically, a 200 is a 20G with the Garrett motors. Dassault also later sold a SAR version of the 200, differing from the HU-25 in that the majority of the SAR mods (windows, hatch, etc.) were made part of the airframe design rather than being modifications to a 20G or 200 fuselage. One distinction is that on an HU-25, the drop hatch folds up into the aisle, while on the F200 SAR, the hatch folds in flush to the fuselage.
08/28/2001 @ 07:24 [ref: 3041]
 Curt
 Madison, WI
If memory serves me correctly the HU-25A is based off the Falcon 200 not the 20 series although I suppose you can argue that since the 200 is based off the 20 the HU-25A is based off the 20 as well.

What I never understood is this - is the 200 series the product of the USCG wanting some 20's with increased fuel tankage and turbofans - ie - would there have ever actually been a civilian 200 series aircraft had it not been for the USCG wanting the Falcons?
08/07/2001 @ 13:51 [ref: 2860]
 George Lutz
 , MI
Air Force, PLEASE>>>> If the picture shows it is a Coast Guard aircraft...
02/09/2001 @ 21:35 [ref: 1580]
 JC
 , AR
I dont know where you get your information from but, the HU-25A is NOT a Beechcraft. I know I work for Dassault Falcon Jet. It is a modified Falcon 20. It is an insult to even mention Falcon in the same sentence as a Beechcraft. The Faclon is twice the aircraft, just ask the people who fly them I have......Get the facts straight!!
07/17/2000 @ 21:43 [ref: 461]
 Steve Schultz
 , MN
The craft pictured here is a Dassault Falcon 20 or HU-25 military version.
07/10/2000 @ 03:44 [ref: 416]

 

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