During an event held yesterday at its Greenville, South Carolina facility, Stevens Aerospace & Defense Systems celebrated the first Garmin G1000 NXi integrated avionics installation in a U.S. Army C-12U/B200C King Air. Local officials and Army personnel were on hand for the celebration, which also marked the 750th Garmin G1000 NXi installation.
The Army upgrade includes the full G1000 NXi flight deck, but Stevens Aerospace also had to integrate military equipment that includes a third GPS, a third transponder, and a secure communications system. It also includes full paint and interior refurbishment. In addition, Stevens Aerospace is providing pilot familiarization training on the G1000 NXi avionics to Army pilots using Stevens’s full-size flight deck simulator at the Greenville facility.
The company has long been a U.S. government depot-level aircraft repair and modification center and has installed several G1000 and G1000 NXi systems in civil King Airs.
“This is the beginning of the U.S. Army’s modernization and standardization of the C-12U/BL-series aircraft,” said Jim Williams, the v-p of government operations at Stevens. “Stevens’s solid history with Garmin G1000 installations and ability to interface this specialized military equipment were key to winning this contract and giving the U.S. Army a path forward to modernizing the C-12U fleet.”