Have you heard of Mitsubishi MU-300 Diamond?

No? It is the original name for the Beechjet 400A before it was acquired by Beechcraft in 1985.

After certification in November 1981, over 90 Diamonds were manufactured in Japan and then assembled at Mitsubishi’s facility in San Angelo, Texas.

In 1980’s, Beechcraft urgently needed to increase competitiveness in light business jet segment. In 1985, they acquired the low-wing, Pratt & Whitney JT15D-powered light jet from Mitsubishi. With redesigned interior, increased fuel capacity and option for thrust reversers, the first Beechjet 400A rolled out in May 1986.

In 1990 started the production of an upgraded Beechjet 400A with more powerful JT15D-5 engines. The upgraded version had modern Rockwell Collins Pro Line 4 avionics, higher gross weight, larger cabin and improved performance. The total production ended up at number 344 in 2003. 273 of them are still active till today.

Later, Raytheon Aircraft purchased the Hawker business jets from British Aerospace, renamed the Beechjet 400 as the Hawker 400 and in 2003 began to produce an improved Hawker 400XP, which features a 200 lb increase in gross weight, 9 passenger seating option, thrust reversers, TCAS II, vapor cycle air conditioning and an emergency locator transmitter.

The 400A pre-owned market is still very active for this relatively old model. In Q1 2022, 9 units have already been sold on the pre-owned market. This high trend also shows the data from recent years- 40 sold airplanes in 2021 and 34 sold in 2020.