question: The Pilatus PC-9 is a more powerful evolution of the plane that more than 20 air forces now use as their what?
answer: ab initio trainer
context: Title: Blue Phoenix
  Passage: Blue Phoenix are the first ever formed Royal Thai Air Force Aerobatic Team, which fly five blue, white and red painted Pilatus PC-9 aircraft, all fitted with white smoke generators.  The team is a part of Flying Training School RTAF Squadron based at Nakhon Pathom's Kamphaeng Saen Air Force Base, and so the pilots are instructors from the same squadron.  Blue Phoenix inheriting the aerobatic flying spirit from their former very own aerobatic team of the RTAF Flying School called “Sean Mueang” that was disbanded several decades ago.
  Title: No. 2 Flying Training School RAAF
  Passage: No. 2 Flying Training School (No. 2 FTS) is the main flying training school of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).  Formed under its present name in 1969, it is located at RAAF Base Pearce, Western Australia.  The unit operates a fleet of Pilatus PC-9 turboprop trainers.  No. 2 FTS traces its origins to the post-war re-establishment of the Air Force's original cadet training unit, No. 1 Flying Training School (No. 1 FTS), at RAAF Point Cook, Victoria, in 1947.  Following reorganisation of aircrew training in 1951–52, No. 1 FTS was renamed No. 1 Applied Flying Training School (No. 1 AFTS), and began specialising in advanced flight instruction on CAC Wirraways.  It relocated to RAAF Base Pearce in 1958, where it converted to De Havilland Vampire jet trainers.  In January 1969, the school was reformed as No. 2 FTS, having the previous year begun replacing the Vampires with Macchi MB-326Hs.  The Macchis were themselves replaced by the PC-9 beginning in 1989.
  Title: No. 82 Wing RAAF
  Passage: No. 82 Wing is the strike and reconnaissance wing of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).  It is headquartered at RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland.  Coming under the control of Air Combat Group, the wing operates F/A-18F Super Hornet multirole fighters and Pilatus PC-9 forward air control aircraft.  Its units include Nos. 1 and 6 Squadrons, operating the Super Hornet, and No. 4 Squadron, operating the PC-9.
  Title: Beechcraft T-6 Texan II
  Passage: The Beechcraft T-6 Texan II is a single-engine turboprop aircraft built by the Raytheon Aircraft Company (which became Hawker Beechcraft and later Beechcraft Defense Company, and was bought by Textron Aviation in 2014).  A trainer aircraft based on the Pilatus PC-9, the T-6 has replaced the Air Force's Cessna T-37B Tweet and the Navy's T-34C Turbo Mentor.  The T-6A is used by the United States Air Force for basic pilot training and Combat Systems Officer (CSO) training and by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps for primary Naval Aviator training as well as primary and intermediate Naval Flight Officer (NFO) training.  The T-6A is also used as a basic trainer by the Royal Canadian Air Force (CT-156 Harvard II), the Greek Air Force, the Israeli Air Force ("Efroni"), and the Iraqi Air Force.  The T-6B is the primary trainer for U.S. student naval aviators.  The T-6C is used for training by the Mexican Air Force, Royal Air Force, Royal Moroccan Air Force, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
  Title: Pilatus PC-9
  Passage: The Pilatus PC-9 is a single-engine, low-wing tandem-seat turboprop training aircraft manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland.  Designed as a more powerful evolution of the Pilatus PC-7, the PC-9's first flight was made in May 1984 after which certification was achieved in September 1985.  After this, the first production orders for the type were received from the Royal Saudi Air Force, with deliveries commencing in 1985.  Since then, more than 250 airframes have been produced across five different variants and the type is employed by a number of military and civilian operators around the world, including the Swiss Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, and the Royal Thai Air Force.
  Title: Soviet Air Forces
  Passage: The Soviet Air Forces (Russian: Военно-воздушные силы , "Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily" (VVS), literally "Military Air Forces") was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union.  The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces.  The Air Forces were formed from components of the Imperial Russian Air Service in 1917, and faced their greatest test during World War II.  The groups were also involved in the Korean War, and dissolved along with the Soviet Union itself in 1991–92.  Former Soviet Air Forces' assets were subsequently divided into several air forces of former Soviet republics, including the new Russian Air Force.  "March of the Pilots" was its anthem.
  Title: Pilatus PC-7
  Passage: The Pilatus PC-7 Turbo Trainer is a low-wing tandem-seat training aircraft, manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland.  The aircraft is capable of all basic training functions including aerobatics, instrument, tactical and night flying.  It has been selected by more than 20 air forces as their ab initio trainer.  Since the aircraft's introduction in 1978, close to 500 have been sold, with the majority still in service.  Over one million hours have been flown by PC-7s worldwide.
  Title: Zielflugstaffel 12
  Passage: Zielflugstaffel 12 (No 12 Target squadron), former known as Fliegerstaffel 12 of the Swiss Air Force is a militia squadron equipped with Northrop F-5E and Pilatus PC-9 and part of the Flugplatzkommando 7.  The home base of the unit is Militärflugplatz Emmen.  As coat of arms, the Zielflugstaffel carries a badge with a yellow and black target pattern, a bullseye and the writing “ Zfl St 12”.
citations: Pilatus PC-7 Pilatus PC-9