Pilatus Flies the First PC-7 MKX, Its New Basic Military Trainer

Pilatus flew the first PC-7 MKX basic military trainer on September 7, 2026, from its factory airfield at Stans, Switzerland. The aircraft is the lead production example for the Royal Netherlands Air Force, the launch customer, and the milestone was reported by FlightGlobal the following day.

What the aircraft is

The PC-7 MKX is a new turboprop trainer from Pilatus, built to teach ab initio students the basics of flying before they move to a fast jet or an advanced trainer. It carries the PC-7 name but is a fresh design, sitting a step below the company’s more powerful PC-21 in the training pipeline.

Power comes from a 700-shaft-horsepower Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-25C driving a four-blade Hartzell propeller. The bigger change is inside: the MKX has a full glass cockpit built around the Garmin G3000 PRIME avionics suite and three high-definition displays, a layout closer to a modern airliner or fighter than to the analog gauges of older basic trainers.

Pilatus is selling the jet as a system rather than just an airframe. The Dutch package includes eight aircraft, four simulators, and a ground-based training setup with virtual-reality modules, interactive wallboards, and mission planning and debriefing software, all intended to push more of the syllabus onto the ground.

The aircraft that flew this month will not go straight to the Netherlands. Pilatus plans to use the first example for its flight-test and certification work, and then for retraining Dutch instructors and technicians on the new type, before the operational fleet arrives.

Why it matters

Basic trainers are unglamorous but strategically important. Every military pilot starts on one, and air forces are trying to move students through screening and grading faster and more cheaply as pilot shortages bite across NATO. A trainer with airline-style avionics and heavy simulator support lets instructors cut expensive flight hours and catch weak students earlier.

The current Dutch fleet dates to 1989, and the PC-7 family as a whole traces back to the 1970s and has sold to more than 20 air forces. Replacing that installed base is the near-term market Pilatus is chasing, and a flying, ordered aircraft is a stronger sales pitch than a brochure.

Competition in the segment is real. Beechcraft’s T-6, the Turkish Hurjet at the jet end, and various turboprop rivals are all chasing the same replacement cycle. Pilatus is betting that the MKX undercuts jet trainers on cost while offering a more capable cockpit than the trainers most air forces still fly. It is a similar pitch to the one behind the recent Hurjet first flight, aimed at a different rung of the same ladder.