BAe 146M

The BAe 146M was not a production version but a conversion programme. BAE Systems announced it in 2009 as an upgrade package that would turn second-hand, ex-civilian BAe 146-200 and -300 airframes into aircraft fit for military operators, in either passenger or freighter configuration. The idea had deep roots. From the type's early years British Aerospace had unsuccessfully proposed military derivatives of the four-engined jet — a tactical airlifter, an aerial-refuelling tanker and even a carrier onboard delivery aircraft — and had gone as far as building a demonstrator, the Sideloading Tactical Airlifter (STA), based on the Quiet Trader freighter and fitted with a mock refuelling probe above the cockpit. Orders, however, came almost exclusively from airlines, and the only sustained military use was VIP transport: the Royal Air Force leased two 146-100s in 1983 to evaluate them as a replacement for the Queen's Flight's Hawker Siddeley Andover turboprops, and from 1986 bought three definitive aircraft, designated BAe 146 CC2, with a bespoke interior for 19 passengers and six crew.

With the 146M, BAE Systems sought to exploit the growing pool of airframes leaving commercial service to offer, at a fraction of the price of a new aircraft, a short-to-medium-range transport with excellent short take-off and landing and rough-field performance. The package comprised new glass-cockpit avionics, additional fuel tanks for extra range, steep-approach and unpaved-runway capability, and the fitting of a defensive aids suite. A new rear cargo door was not introduced: freighter conversions kept the large side door inherited from the Quiet Trader and the STA. The company advertised the 146M as suitable for airlift, medical evacuation, para-dropping, surveillance and in-flight refuelling.

The only customer to take the concept up was the RAF itself. In 2012, with the first Lockheed C-130 Hercules already being withdrawn and the Airbus A400M Atlas still to arrive, the UK Ministry of Defence sought an interim transport to bolster operations in Afghanistan and, in June that year, awarded BAE Systems Regional Aircraft at Prestwick a £15.5 million contract under an Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) to convert two BAe 146-200QC. The airframes came from the Belgian cargo airline TNT Airways and were modified at Hawker Beechcraft's Chester facility, acting as subcontractor; they received the service designation BAe 146 C Mk3 (or C3). The work included two directional infrared countermeasures turrets beneath the tail and a third under the forward fuselage, plus flare dispensers, to meet the theatre-entry standard demanded for Afghanistan. The total cost of buying and modifying the pair was put at nearly 73 million dollars in 2012 terms.

The RAF accepted the two aircraft in February 2013 and deployed them in April to Camp Bastion, Helmand Province, where they flew tactical freight and personnel transport missions until British operations wound down in 2014. With a cabin floor fitted with a freight-loading system for pallets or palletised seating, the C Mk3 could carry 23,500 lb of cargo (about 10.6 tonnes) or 94 passengers, or a mix of both, loaded through a 3.33 × 1.93 m side door. The aircraft joined 32 (The Royal) Squadron at RAF Northolt alongside the VIP CC2s, and their defensive aids suite also allowed them to carry ministers and senior officers into higher-risk locations. The full fleet of four 146s was offered for sale from 2019 and was withdrawn in 2022, replaced in the VIP role by Dassault Falcon 900LX jets. Beyond these two examples the 146M found no buyers: the military path for the 146 remained, as in those early years, a promise the commercial market never let come to fruition.