GA-ATS Rolls Out Do228 NXT and Signs First Customer

General Atomics AeroTec Systems (GA-ATS) has secured a launch customer for the Do228 NXT utility aircraft, agreeing to deliver the first modernized Dornier 228 to an unnamed humanitarian group in early 2027. The June 11 announcement came three days after GA-ATS rolled out the Do228 NXT, an updated version of the Dornier 228 twin turboprop, at its factory in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany—the site where Do228 aircraft have been manufactured and serviced for more than 40 years.

“We are very pleased that the contracts for the first Do228 NXT have been signed and that the aircraft will be delivered to the launch customer in early 2027,” said Florian Rohe, managing director of GA-ATS. “This confirms that the decision to further develop the Do228 NXT and resume production was the right one.”

According to GA-ATS, the customer declined to be named for operational reasons. The company said the organization will use the airplane for missions including search and rescue, medical evacuation support, disaster relief, logistics, environmental monitoring, and reconnaissance, and that it will be delivered in a mission-ready configuration with onboard systems—which GA-ATS did not disclose—supporting situational awareness, communications, and mission coordination.

The June 8 rollout ceremony drew approximately 500 guests, GA-ATS said, among them German government officials, defense industry representatives, customers, suppliers, and members of the Dornier family, whose namesake firm developed the original aircraft. The company described the event as the first unveiling of a newly manufactured German aircraft series in many years.

GA-ATS, which holds the Do228 type certificate, kept the original short-takeoff-and-landing (STOL) airframe and its rectangular, unpressurized cabin, which converts among passenger, cargo, medevac, paratrooper, and surveillance layouts. The changes focus on the cockpit, mission systems, and production process; according to the company, the NXT features a modernized cockpit and cabin, additional mission equipment, a renewed supply chain, and increased in-house production of components.

A pair of 776-shp Honeywell TPE331-10 engines driving MTV-27 five-blade propellers gives the airplane a 240-knot maximum cruise speed, a 25,000-foot ceiling, and a range of up to 1,340 nm with a 500-kilogram payload, per GA-ATS specifications. In the cockpit, GA-ATS replaced the legacy instruments with four Universal Avionics flat-panel displays, a digital autopilot, and a flight management system that supports satellite-based precision approaches. 

The cabin carries up to 19 passengers or 2,155 kilograms of cargo. For special missions, the company offers four underwing hardpoints for external equipment, a roller door that paratroopers can jump from, and sensors including camera turrets, radar for scanning the ocean surface, and a launcher for sonobuoys (floating sensors dropped to detect submarines).

Beyond the launch customer, GA-ATS said it is targeting civilian, military, and government operators, with missions including passenger and cargo transport, maritime surveillance, medevac, and disaster response.

“When General Atomics acquired this company in 2021, we saw tremendous potential—in the aircraft, in the technology, and above all in the team,” said Linden Blue, CEO of U.S.-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, at the rollout.