Intended to deliver a fleet of hundreds of advanced new jet trainers into service with the US Air Force, the joint Boeing-Saab T-7A programme is a lynchpin of the service’s aspirations for its near- and mid-term force structure. However, can the timetable be maintained?
The T-X programme, intended to replace the ageing fleet of T-38C Talon jet trainers in service with the US Air Force (USAF), was one of the most hotly contested US military procurement competitions in recent years, with a who’s who of aerospace defence companies all actively engaged. Hardly surprising, given the requirement ran into hundreds of aircraft and the prize was a contract potentially worth billions of dollars.
After several years of competition, in September 2018 the winning bid went to a joint Boeing-Saab offer of what would become the T-7A Red Hawk, the USAF awarding Boeing a US$9.2bn contract to supply 351 advanced trainer aircraft and 46 associated ground-based training simulators.
