SkyAlyne to operate Grob 120TP and PC-21 for Canadian training contract
December 2, 2024
RCAF Future Aircrew Training (FAcT) provider SkyAlyne is to provide the RCAF with 19 Pilatus PC-21s, executed by major contractor KF Aerospace, with secured production slots to precede deliveries beginning in the second half of 2026. When operational, the fleet will be based at 15 Wing Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan.
The procurement of PC-21s builds on an earlier announcement, signed in November, for the acquisition of 23 turboprop-powered Grob G 120TP aircraft for the FaCT programme; replacing the current Grob B 120A as the basic flying training platform. Factory acceptance of the new Grob fleet is expected to begin in August 2025.
Awarded to SkyAlyne Canada (a partnership between the two contractors formed in 2018) in spring 2024, the 25-year contract (worth an estimated $11.2 billion) comprises what the Canadian government described as “a comprehensive aircrew training programme that provides aircraft, simulators, civilian instructors and classroom training systems”.
The FAcT programme will replace training services currently being provided through two separate contracts. NATO Flying Training in Moose Jaw (provided by CAE Military Aviation Training) will expire by 2028 (if an additional option year is exercised), while Contacted Flying Training and Support (CFTS) will expire in 2027.
SkyAlyne board chair Tracy Medve described the PC-21 as providing Canada with “excellent value” and offering “a unique advantage for the FAcT programme,” owing to its dual role as both a general advanced flying trainer and its role in advanced jet training.
The adoption of the PC-21 comes as the RCAF’s lead-in advance jet trainer, the CT-155 Hawk, was retired in March 2024 following nearly 24 years of service – with Colonel Adam Carlson confirming that the Hawk “no longer meets the Air Force’s needs for fighter jet flying training related to the coming CF-35”. With the Hawk out of action, fighter pilots continue to be trained in places like the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training programme in Texas and the Italian Air Force’s International Flight Training School.
SkyAlyne Canada will facilitate over 70 aircraft in total through the new contract, split into five fleets. This will also include November 2024’s deal for 19 Airbus H135 helicopters to be based at 15 Wing’s 3 Canadian Forces Flying Training School in Southport, MB. Training will continue concurrently at Moose Jaw, Portage la Prairie and Winnibeg, with SkyAlyne “tasked to lead the significant rebuilding of facilities and modernisation of equipment, including new fleets of training aircraft”.
