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Introducing
American Jet Industries
T610 ‘Cali’ Super Pinto
Philippine Aircraft Development Corporation’s Domestic COIN Jet Trainer
American Jet Industries
T610 ‘Cali’ Super Pinto
Philippine Aircraft Development Corporation’s Domestic COIN Jet Trainer
PADC’s T610 ‘Cali’ Super Pinto prototype during flight tests for the Philippine Air Force’s Self Reliance Development Wing
OVERVIEW
Temco TT-1 Pinto
The T-610 Super Pinto originated in 1968 as a modified version of the Navy’s Temco TT-1 Pinto two-seat jet trainer. This conversion replaced the original Continental J69 (Turbomeca Marbore) engine with a more powerful General Electric CJ610 (a civilian version of the military J85) and extended the fuselage by 2 meters. The redesign resulted in an aircraft that performed exceptionally well, boasting three times the power of the original model while adding only 20 pounds to its weight.
In the early 1970s, AJI proposed the Super Pinto as a light-strike/counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft. Powered by a CJ610-4 turbojet engine and fitted with six underwing hardpoints for external armaments, the aircraft, however, failed to secure contracts from the USAF or Turkey.
AJI T610 ‘Cali’ Super Pinto 2nd Prototype that was locally assembled in the Philippine Air Force Museum
Subsequently, AJI decided to sell the project. In 1976, the Philippine government acquired the Super Pinto program for $1.25 million through the Philippine Air Force’s Self-Reliance Development Wing. The deal included work drawings, patents, design details, flight test data, manufacturing process sheets, a US-built prototype (which became the first Philippine T-610, later renamed the “Calí” or “eagle”), and an additional fuselage. The agreement also granted the Philippines exclusive global rights to market both military and commercial variants of the aircraft.
However, the program was mired by problems especially after the first prototype was lost in an accident in its evaluation flight (which caused the abandonment of the program when it killed a high ranking PAF officer). This was compounded with the fact that economic mismanagement of the then dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. almost lead to a near financial collapse. In the mid-1980s, there were plans to revive the project to replace a bunch of PAF assets from the F-86 Sabres, Lockheed T-33s, and a bunch more. The engine commonality with the PAF’s own Northrop F-5A/Bs were found to be especially promising but this never really took off.
To this day, Manila still technically hold the licensing rights of the Super Pinto but this has been challenged way back in 1988 when Avstar Inc., in cooperation with Shenyang Aircraft Corp. planned to revive the Super Pinto with Avstar T-100 Super Mustang but this time powered by a GE J85 Turbojet or Williams FJ44 with the argument that Manila invalidated its own licensing rights for not having produced any new aircraft for the past decade. This however did also not pan out and the Super Mustang never was produced.
SPECIFICATIONS
General characteristics
- Crew: Two (pilot and instructor)
- Length: 9.57 m (31 ft 5 in)
- Wingspan: 9.09 m (29 ft 10 in) with tip tanks; (10.31 m (33 ft 9 in) without tip tanks)
- Height: 3.48 m (11 ft 5 in)
- Wing area: 13.94 m² (150.0 sq ft)
- Empty weight: 1,542 kg (3,400 lb)
- Max. takeoff weight: 3,628 kg (7,998 lb)
- Powerplant: 1 × General Electric CJ610-4 non-afterburning turbojet, 12.7 kN (2,850 lbf)
- Fuel capacity: 1,048 l (277 US gal; 231 imp gal) with tip tanks
Performance
- Never exceed speed: 760 km/h (472 mph; 410 kn) at 4,570 m (14,990 ft)
- Maximum speed: 843 km/h (524 mph; 455 kn) at 7,620 m (25,000 ft) and 2,041 kg (4,500 lb) AUW
- Stall speed: 121 km/h (75 mph; 65 kn) flaps down
- Range: 1,570 km (976 mi; 848 nmi)internal fuel
- Ferry range: 2,062 km(1,281 mi; 1,113 nmi)
- Endurance: 5.5 hours
- Service ceiling: 15,240 m (50,000 ft)
- Rate of climb: 47 m/s (9,300 ft/min)
Armament
- Hardpoints: 6 underwing hardpoints with a capacity of up to 3,500 kg (7,700 lb) of stores and provisions to carry combinations of:
- Other: 2 × 7.62 mm caliber machine guns
IN-GAME
Fairly fast and agile, its very similar in capability with the BAE Strikemaster and should fulfill the same role and niche. If this gets added to Japan as part of a larger ASEAN subtree, this would be an excellent sidegrade to the Thai OA-37B Dragonfly and be a fantastic premium option.
Since the license was sold to the Philippines, this variant is effectively entirely Filipino if it was ever produced (aside from the prototype).
MORE PHOTOS
AJI T-610 Super Pinto for Pavecoin evaluation
T-610 Super Pinto Cockpit
SOURCES
