While some Citation Mustang owners have opted to upgrade their Garmin G1000 avionics to the NXi configuration, Garmin has unveiled an STC for the Mustang that adds more features to the NXi upgrade. These include a new radar, diversity transponder, and datalink weather and communications.
These features can be added to Mustangs that already have the NXi upgrade, while those with the original G1000 avionics can be upgraded to the NXi configuration with the new offerings. A big change for Mustangs is the package’s GWX 75 weather radar, which replaces the original magnetron-based, four-color GWX 68. The GWX 75 is a digital radar with 16 colors, vertical scanning, weather attenuated color highlight technology, and optional ground clutter suppression and turbulence detection.
Dual GTX 345DR transponders, which are part of the new NXi STC, provide ADS-B In traffic and weather and the ability to operate where diversity transponder output is required or helpful. Diversity transponders have antennas mounted on the bottom and top of the fuselage, allowing surveillance to work more consistently than it would from only belly-mounted antennas. Aireon’s space-based ADS-B requires diversity transponders in many countries and some over-ocean regions.
Meanwhile, Garmin’s GSR 56 Iridium transceiver adds global weather information, two-way text and voice communications, automatic position tracking, and other datalink services to the very light twinjet.