Short Tucano

The Short Tucano is a two-seat turboprop basic trainer built by Short Brothers in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a licence-built version of the Brazilian Embraer EMB-312 Tucano. The main operator is the Royal Air Force with exports to Kenya and Kuwait.

Design and development

Origins

Development of the Tucano started in May 1984 after an agreement between Embraer and Short Brothers to meet a requirement to replace the BAC Jet Provost as a basic trainer with the Royal Air Force. The Royal Air Force issued Air Staff Target 412 to define the requirement for a high-performance turboprop trainer. A short-list of designs competed for the contract; the other types considered were the Pilatus PC-9, NDN-1T Turbo-Firecracker and Australian Aircraft Consortium (AAC) A.20 Wamira II.

In 1984 Embraer sent Shorts the seventh EMB-312 airframe off the production line for modifications in order to meet AST-412 requirements. The type was displayed in September 1984 at the Farnborough Airshow featuring an uprated PT6A-25C2 engine and a ventral air-brake to meet required stall speed of 60kt. However, tests undertaken at Boscombe Down later on that year indicated the need to re-engine the aircraft (to meet the RAF requirement for time to height) and Garrett TPE331 was chosen.