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Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC) to Deliver $240 Million in Contracted Air Services to the U.S. Air Force

July 27, 2020

Newport News, VA — July 27, 2020 —  Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC), part of the Textron Systems segment of Textron Inc (NYSE: TXT), announced today that it has been selected to provide two U.S. Air Force bases with adversary air live training under the Combat Air Forces (CAF) Contracted Air Support (CAS) program. Under the awards, worth up to a combined $240 million, ATAC will provide adversary air live training to pilots at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, and Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.  The combined awards provide for over 3,000 sorties per year for up to 4.5 years, which will be provided by ATAC's fleet of Mirage F1 fighter aircraft and are expected to commence by Fall 2020. The awards are part of an initial round of 5 operating locations the Air Force has selected under the CAF CAS program, with the Air Force stating its intention to  contract for such services at up to 22 operating locations: 12 for adversary air and 10 for contracted close air

Press Release

Textron’s Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC) to Deliver Contracted Air Services to the US Air Force

October 22, 2019

Washington, DC — October 22, 2019 —  Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC), a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, announced today that its team has been selected as a provider of contracted air services under the U.S. Air Force’s Combat Air Forces (CAF) Contracted Air Support (CAS) program.
The effort will be led by ATAC and includes the team from Valkyrie Aero, LLC, a Valkyrie Defense Company.  They will deliver full-service commercial Adversary Air (ADAIR) and Contracted Close Air Support (CCAS) sorties with ATAC’s F1 Mirage and L-39 Albatros fighter aircraft, and Valkyrie’s A-27 Tucano trainer aircraft.  This Multi-Award Contract allows ATAC to compete for subsequent Task Orders at 22 operating locations, 12 for adversary air and 10 for contracted close air support. ATAC is the global leader of tactical airborne training, having pioneered much of what are now contracted air services industry standards with a fleet of over 90 aircraft, 57,000 flight hours,

Press Release

ATAC Selected as Provider of Mission-Representative JTAC Training for Naval TACT Program

May 01, 2019
Washington, DC — May 1, 2019 — Textron Airborne Solutions, a business of Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT), today announced 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 comprising Textron Aviation Defense and Valkyrie Defense, LLC’s family of companies. They will deliver contracted live-air training to Forward Air Controllers (FACs), 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
Inside ATAC
Mirage F1 Aircraft

ATAC begins taking delivery of world’s largest private Mirage F1 fleet

July 18, 2018

ATAC's first two Mirage F1 aircraft were recently delivered to the company’s Adversary Center of Excellence (ATAC-ACE) at Fort Worth Alliance Airport in Texas. Since then, a steady stream of the sophisticated Mirage F1 aircraft – 13 to date – have arrived in the U.S. with additional deliveries planned throughout 2018.

Press Release

Air Force Considering Near-Term Boost in Adversary Training Capability

February 24, 2017
As the Air Force works to develop a long-term solution to its growing need for adversary air capacity and capability, the service is considering a short-term effort that would expand upon an existing contract for red air support at Nellis Air Force Base, NV, and would perhaps extend the capability to other locations.

The service held an industry day Feb. 14 to discuss its long-term need for aircraft and pilots to perform adversary roles during training missions, detailing plans to award a contract to multiple companies by January 2019 to provide the pilots and aircraft necessary to address its current 40,000-sortie adversary air shortfall. But the service needs additional capability now, and representatives from Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC) - which has managed a fleet of tactical jets that it has provided as a service to the military for the past 20 years - told Inside the Air Force this week the service is "leaning toward" a near-term contract that would
Press Release

ATAC Awarded the William Bell O'Brian Diamond Award From the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

February 23, 2017
ATAC (Airborne Tactical Advantage Company), the U.S. leader in outsourced tactical airborne services for over 20 years has been awarded the William Bill O'Brian Diamond Award from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for maintenance excellence for the fourth year in a row. Mr. Jeff Slaughter the Manager of the Richmond Virginia Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) along with Mr. Maury Dacey presented the prestigious award to ATAC's Director of Maintenance, Mr. Dennis Rieke and his team of maintenance professionals at Newport News. Mr. Ross Gregory from the Van Nuys FSDO presented the prestigious award to ATAC's Director of Operations, Mr. Richard Zins and his team of maintenance professionals at Pt. Mugu Ca. The FAA Safety Award is given to organizations and their Airframe and Power Plant (A&P) mechanics who achieve individual Bronze or Silver Awards in Core Course Safety programs administered by the FAA. With ATAC's entire aircraft maintenance organization achieving the
Press Release

Textron Airborne Solutions Launches; Focus on Growing Airborne Tactical Training Services

July 08, 2016

Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) today publicly launched the latest edition to its family of strong aviation and military brands, unveiling Textron Airborne Solutions for participation at the Royal International Air Tattoo and the Farnborough International Airshow. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160708005065/en/ Textron Airborne Solutions Inc. (formerly known as Textron Advanced Aviation Training Inc. ) is developing a live air training business that initially includes ATAC ( Airborne Tactical Advantage Company ) which was recently acquired by Textron . ATAC is focused on training military pilots, ship crews, and ground support forces in fighter tactics, carrier strike group defense and air-to-ground strike control. The business seeks to add additional training service offerings and businesses over the coming months. With over 44,000 training flight hours and 20 years of experience, ATAC has pioneered much of

Press Release

Admiral Timothy J. Keating, USN (Ret) Joins ATAC Board of Directors

July 13, 2015
Retired Admiral Timothy Keating has joined the Board of Directors at ATAC, the US leader in outsourced tactical aviation services. During his Navy career, Admiral Keating served as commander of Carrier Group Five, the U.S. 5th Fleet, the U.S. Northern Command and NORAD, and U.S. Pacific Command retiring in 2009 after over 38 years of service. Admiral Keating will work with other senior military leaders on the board such as General Gregory "Speedy" Martin, USAF (Ret) to continue ATAC's development in tactical aviation training.

For over 25 years, the US Navy has increasingly relied on outsourced augmentation of their airborne training and readiness programs to provide tactical training to naval ship and air crews in place of front-line military assets. Saving an estimated $100 million per year while preserving hundreds of flight years on F/A-18's, ATAC has become an indispensable part of Naval Fleet training and readiness. ADM Keating joins ATAC after recent award of the US
Press Release

Northern Edge

July 06, 2015
ATAC recently supported Exercise NORTHERN EDGE 2015 from Joint Base Elmendorf – Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska from 9 JUN – 27 JUN. Exercise NORTHERN EDGE is Alaska's premier military joint training exercise, including over 150 aircraft and multiple ships at sea. This year's exercise focused on advanced employment of US tactics as well as the research and development of cutting edge technologies in a robust threat environment.

Alaskan Command's (ALCOM) expansive training ranges facilitated the exercise to be conducted in the most realistic environment possible. NORTHERN EDGE operations were conducted within the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex, which includes more than 60,000 square miles (155,399.29 square kilometers) of air space, and the Gulf of Alaska, which encompasses 50,000 square miles (129,499.40 square kilometers) of air and sea space. The vast range expanses allowed friendly and simulated enemy forces (including ATAC) to perform their mission relatively

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