UC-35 Citation
ICAO C560A Cessna Citation in military colours, moving staff between bases. Live UC-35 positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30sAirframe
- Manufacturer
- Cessna
- Role
- Utility and staff transport
- Class
- L2J — Landplane, 2 jet engines
- Crew
- 2
- First flight
- 1987
- In service
- 1998
Operators airborne
About the UC-35 Citation
The UC-35 is the jet equivalent of the C-12: a straightforward business aircraft bought off the shelf to move small numbers of people quickly. The US Army and Marine Corps both operate them, and the appeal is simply that a jet does in ninety minutes what a King Air does in three hours.
Because the missions are administrative, the flying is predictable — short sectors between military airfields, usually in the mid twenties or low thirties, on weekday schedules. It is not a glamorous aircraft and it makes no attempt to be.
The C560 designator covers the Citation V, Ultra and Encore family, so civil examples appear as well.
Callsign prefixes
- PAT
- Priority Air Transport — US Army
- GRZLY
- A recurring US Marine Corps block
- NAVY
- US Navy and Marine Corps flights
How to recognise it
- —A small business jet with two rear-mounted engines and a straight, unswept wing.
- —A T-tail and a short fuselage with a handful of round windows.
- —The straight wing separates it from most other business jets, which are swept.
Common questions
+ What is the difference between the UC-35A and UC-35D?
The A is the Army's Citation Ultra and the D the Marine Corps' Citation Encore. Both are variants of the same Cessna family and both report as C560.
+ Why does the military buy business jets?
They are cheap, available immediately and well supported commercially. For moving a handful of staff between bases there is no advantage in a purpose-built military design.
+ Are these VIP aircraft?
Mostly not. They carry staff officers and urgent passengers rather than heads of state; that role belongs to the C-32 and C-37.