To be honest, the Super King Air's currently operated strike me as being suitable for training Orion and Hercules crew.
In the handout provided with the press release (
http://feeds.beehive.govt.nz/sites/all/ ... andout.pdf), the training paths for Australia and Canada (comparable Orion/Hercules operators) are shown.
What isn't mentioned is that both the Canadians and Ozzies both operate fast jets (Hornets), so the advanced trainers they use are more suited to their operations.
I don't really see the point in operating a high-performance single engined aircraft, if you only have high performance multi-engined aircraft, and you still be doing multi-engine training on a suitable aircraft!!
Yorden