First Pilatus PC-21 trainers for Canada depart Switzerland to prepare future fighter pilots.

The first two CT-157 Siskin II (PC-21) advanced training aircraft have departed Pilatus Aircraft's Stans facility in Switzerland en route to Canada for the Royal Canadian Air Force. Procured by SkyAlyne under the 25-year, C$11.2 billion Future Aircrew Training program, the aircraft are scheduled for public display at AERO Gatineau-Ottawa before commencing formal operational acceptance. These initial units will support syllabus development, instructor conversion, and testing at 15 Wing Moose Jaw to build out the modernized fighter pilot pipeline.

The CT-157 Siskin II fleet features a 1,600-shaft-horsepower Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68B turboprop engine capable of reaching a maximum speed of 685 km/h and sustaining maneuvering loads from +8 to -4 g. These platforms will replace legacy training assets to standardize both advanced fixed-wing and jet-oriented instruction across the broader Future Aircrew Training architecture.

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The CT-157 Siskin II is the Canadian designation for the Pilatus PC-21, a turboprop advanced trainer capable of reaching 685 km/h and +8 to -4 g, which the RCAF will use for both advanced fixed-wing and jet-oriented training under the Future Aircrew Training program. (Picture source: Pilatus Aircraft)

On September 14, 2026, the first two PC-21 advanced trainers for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), designated CT-157 Siskin II, departed Pilatus Aircraft's Stans facility in Switzerland for Canada, as they are scheduled to appear at AERO Gatineau-Ottawa from September 18 to 20 before proceeding through the Canadian delivery process. The pair are the first units of a fleet of 19 PC-21s purchased by KF Aerospace for SkyAlyne under the 25-year Future Aircrew Training (FAcT) program, and this flight follows the first Canadian aircraft's 1-hour-15-minute maiden flight on February 26, 2026. After arrival, they will support acceptance, syllabus development, testing, and instructor conversion before student training expands at 15 Wing Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. The CT-157 Siskin II will cover both advanced fixed-wing training and the subsequent jet-oriented training phase, placing the PC-21 in two successive portions of Canada's fighter pilot pipeline. The broader FAcT contract was awarded to SkyAlyne on May 28, 2024, for 25 years, covers 71 training aircraft divided among five fleets, and is valued at C$11.2 billion.

The Pilatus PC-21, also known as the CT-157 Siskin II in Canada, is 11.23 m long, 9.11 m across the wings and 3.75 m high, with 15.22 m² of wing area, a basic empty weight of 2,280 kg, and a maximum takeoff weight of 3,100 kg in aerobatic configuration, which can reach up to 4,250 kg in utility configuration. A Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68B developing 1,600 shp (1,193 kW) drives a 2.39-m Hartzell E8991KX five-bladed graphite propeller, allowing a maximum speed of 685 km/h, a range of 1,333 km, and a maximum climb of roughly 4,010 ft/min. The aerobatic envelope extends to +8/-4 g, and the roll rate reaches 200 degrees per second, while clean stall speed is around 170 km/h. Takeoff over a 15.2-m obstacle requires 798 m, the landing requires 734 m, while the landing stall speed is around 150 km/h. These performances give the Swiss training aircraft fighter-relevant maneuvering loads and roll performance without attempting to reproduce a fighter's acceleration, sustained speed, or excess power.

Several systems are specifically intended to make this 1,600-shp turboprop more relevant to jet-oriented instruction. Digital power management limits the 1,600-shp engine to roughly 1,080 shp below 80 KIAS (148 km/h), then progressively releases power until the full rating becomes available above 200 KIAS (370 km/h). An automatic rudder trim uses airspeed, torque, angle of attack, and load factor to counter propeller-induced yaw, reducing the rudder workload normally associated with a conventional high-powered turboprop. Mechanically reversible controls are supplemented by hydraulically boosted ailerons and roll spoilers, while an airbrake permits jet-style energy management without relying mainly on propeller drag. Stick-force gradient is roughly 10 lb per g, requiring roughly 40 lb of additional longitudinal force between 1 g and 5 g. Five hardpoints (four underwing and one centerline) reduce the maneuver envelope from +8/-4 g to +5/-2.5 g, but allow a maximum external load of 1,150 kg for tactical training.

Student and instructor occupy stepped tandem cockpits, each equipped with three 152 x 203 mm (6 x 8 in) multifunction displays, a HUD, HOTAS controls and an up-front control panel, replacing the CT-114 Tutor's side-by-side cockpit and largely analogue training environment. The CMC Electronics FV-4000 mission computer uses two 500-MHz PowerPC G4 processors with 512 MB each and separates flight-critical software from mission-training functions. Other equipment includes pressurization, OBOGS, anti-g equipment, air conditioning, autopilot, and Martin-Baker Mk 16L/CH16C zero-zero ejection seats. More importantly for instruction, the rear cockpit can be electronically decoupled from the front. An instructor can therefore modify the student's displays, sensor performance and system modes or inject synthetic targets, degraded information and non-safety-critical failures without altering the aircraft's actual flight condition.

The embedded simulation system allows the CT-157 to reproduce tasks normally associated with equipment it does not physically carry. For instance, synthetic radar contacts can be created, moved, or removed by the instructor, while simulated short-range infrared and beyond-visual-range radar-guided missiles reproduce acquisition, seeker, and launch-envelope procedures on the HUD and multifunction displays. Air-to-ground functions include synthetic laser-guided and GPS-guided weapons, air-to-ground missiles, stores management, ground-mapping imagery, surface-to-air threats and electronic warfare indications. The system can rescale a weapon model so that an engagement physically flown at 300 kt reproduces the decision timeline of a 450-kt jet engagement. Multiple PC-21s can exchange synthetic tactical information through a data link, allowing several aircraft to fight the same virtual scenario. The system therefore reproduces tactical decision sequences, not the actual radar range, missile kinematics, acceleration, closure rates, or sensor physics of an operational fighter.

Mission planning and debriefing are also integrated with the aircraft rather than treated as separate instructional activities. The Mission Support System combines planning and debriefing functions, allowing instructors to load tactical scenarios before flight and recover HUD video, cockpit audio, aircraft data, and simulated tactical events afterward. Three-dimensional reconstruction can show where the aircraft, synthetic targets, and threats were positioned when a student detected a contact, selected a weapon, or entered a threat envelope. Instructor-generated failures and information degradation can be correlated with the student's subsequent actions rather than reconstructed from memory. This matters because one aircraft hour can include navigation, high-g handling, radar intercepts, electronic warfare reactions, simulated weapons, and emergency events. Pilatus has associated PC-21 training systems with total training-cost reductions exceeding 50%, but Canada has not yet published CT-157 cost per flying hour, simulator-to-live ratio, or the number of jet sorties FAcT expects each PC-21 sortie to replace.

The PC-21/CT-157 is only one element of the C$11.2 billion FAcT system. Canada is acquiring 71 training aircraft across five fleets: the CT-102B Astra II (Grob G 120TP) for basic flying training, the CT-157 Siskin II (Pilatus PC-21) for advanced fixed-wing and jet training, the CT-145E Expeditor II (Beechcraft King Air 260) for multi-engine training, the CT-153 Juno (Airbus H135) for helicopter training and the CT-142Q Citadel (De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400) for Air Combat Systems Officer and Airborne Electronic Sensor Operator training. SkyAlyne combines CAE and KF Aerospace, while CAE's initial subcontract is worth roughly C$1.7 billion over 25 years and includes major simulator and training responsibilities. Training is distributed principally between Moose Jaw, Southport and Winnipeg. The intended annual output is 120 pilots, roughly 40 Air Combat Systems Officers and 36 Airborne Electronic Sensor Operators, making student throughput, aircraft availability and simulator utilization more important measures than the nominal number of aircraft alone.

The CT-157 also illustrates why maximum speed alone is a poor measure of trainer capability. Canada's CT-114 Tutor could reach roughly 429 kt, about 59 kt or 16% faster than the PC-21's 370-kt maximum, while its stall speed was roughly 71 kt compared with roughly 92 kt clean for the PC-21. Unlike the PC-21, the CT-114 Tutor lacked an integrated digital training architecture combining a glass cockpit with embedded mission simulation and a mission planning and debriefing system, limiting its ability to reproduce modern fighter cockpit workflows and synthetic tactical scenarios during flight. Internationally, the PC-21 fleet had passed 500,000 flying hours by 2024 and approached 250 aircraft, including 55 for Saudi Arabia, 49 for Australia, 40 for Spain, 25 for the UAE, 24 for Qatar and 19 for Singapore. With the CT-157 assigned to both AFT-FW and AFT-Jet at Moose Jaw, Canada will use a single aircraft fleet across two advanced training phases, as the wider FAcT system connects it with simulators, mission planning and debriefing, courseware, and the other aircraft fleets supporting the progression from basic flying training to multi-engine, rotary-wing, or fighter-oriented instruction.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.