With the development of more electric aircraft, higher demand for electrical energy is put forward in generation systems. The constant speed drive is eliminated in variable frequency ac (VFAC) generation systems, which makes integrated starter-generator (SG) can be realized. Considering the inherent defects of wound rotor synchronous SG systems, such as the complex starting excitation methods and rotating rectifiers, this paper proposes a VFAC SG system based on hybrid excitation synchronous machines (HESMs) for aircraft applications. The key technology of HESM-based VFAC SG system is to regulate the field current in such a way that three major modes of VFAC SG system operation for aircraft applications, namely, engine starting operation, transition mode, and generating operation, can be realized effectively. The simulation model of HESM-based VFAC SG system is built and analyzed. A prototype HESM-based VFAC SG system has been designed and developed for experimental verification. The starting operation, transition mode, and generating operation of the prototype HESM-based VFAC SG system are implemented. The feasibility of HESMs to VFAC SG system for safety-critical aircraft applications has been validated.