T-X programma ... the new trainer ... or next light multi-roll fighter ?

Gestart door Harald, 06/06/2016 | 10:41 uur

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Boeing progresses Red Hawk EMD testing

14 JULY 2020

by Gareth Jennings

Boeing is progressing the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) element of its contract to deliver 351 new T-7A Red Hawk advanced jet trainer aircraft to the US Air Force (USAF), reporting 80% completion of the first phase.

Speaking at the company's first 'virtual' pre-Farnborough International Airshow event on 14 July, Vice-President of International Sales, Strike, Surveillance and Mobility Thomas Breckenridge said that the first of three EMD phases had completed more than 200 test flights of the two production-representative jets (PRJs) currently flying.

"Significant progress is being made, [and] we are on track for initial operating capability in 2024," Breckenridge said, added that many of the USAF performance targets had been exceeded.

With EMD Phase 1 proceeding on track, Breckenridge noted that hot-weather trials, high angle-of-attack (AoA) with no nose boom, and a continuation of in-flight engine restart tests would be conducted during the next few weeks.

News of the good progression followed the successful completion of the USAF's critical design reviews (CDRs) for the aircraft. This milestone, announced by the US Air Force Life-Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) on 9 June, was reached when the Aircraft CDR and overall System CDR were signed off as important steps on the path to production for the Red Hawk, solidifying the aircraft and subsystem designs.

The conclusion of the Aircraft CDR and System CDR followed the successful completion earlier in the year of the CDR for the ground-based elements of the jet trainer. The T-7A Ground Based Training Systems (GBTS) CDR paved the way for manufacturing on the ground-based elements of the USAF's aircrew training system to commence.

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One of the two production-representative jets that have flown more than 200 times in support of the current EMD testing. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)

https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/boeing-progresses-red-hawk-emd-testing
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

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ACC Aims to Cut Pilot Training Time By Up to Half (van 40 naar 22 maanden is het streven)

https://www.airforcemag.com/acc-aims-to-cut-pilot-training-time-by-up-to-half/


The Boeing T-7 Red Hawk's "glass cockpit" (top) has reconfigurable displays that will allow pilots to practice realistic sensor operation and weapons release in the airplane itself, while the T-38C (bottom), although having some digital updates, is still using many "steam gauges" and dials, which won't allow such advanced training. Boeing video screenshot and USAF photo.
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Harald

Australia begins quest for a new trainer jet   ( ... zou Australie de eerste klant worden ? .. van de T-7A ? )


Australia has issued an RfI for a future lead-in fighter training system (LIFTS), in a requirement called Project Air 6002 Phase 1. This formally begins the search for a replacement for the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) Hawk 127 trainer jet fleet.

The RAAF is seeking a future solution ...

https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/training-simulation/australia-begins-quest-new-trainer-jet/

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T-7A Red Hawk achieves another design goal

/ Published June 09, 2020

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio (AFLCMC) -- The Air Force is a step closer to finalizing the design for its 4th and 5th Generation Advanced Pilot Trainer, the T-7A Red Hawk.

Boeing and the U.S. Air Force recently conducted both the Aircraft Critical Design Review (CDR) and overall System CDR during a 3-day summit culminating 18 months of development work on the program.

"This is an important step forward in the life of this program," said Shanika Sims, Air Vehicle Branch Chief.  "This design review further solidifies the aircraft and subsystem designs, bringing the T-7A Red Hawk closer to production."

The CDR analyzed the ability of the T-7A subsystems and overall platform to deliver the capabilities required to train 4th and 5th generation fighter pilots.  Specifically, these reviews looked carefully at subsystems such as the new escape system, engine/propulsion integration, and external pylons. Systems engineering processes were used to ensure that the platform design can effectively and successfully deliver the advanced level of training required by new pilots headed for fighters like the F-22 and F-35.

"The combined Government and Boeing team continues to leverage outside-the-box thinking, process tailoring, and are 'breaking the norms' by utilizing advanced engineering digital design practices to design, test, and produce aircraft, enabling  faster delivery of a high-quality product to the warfighter," Sims said.

Many such design reviews are conducted face-to-face, but COVID-19 required personnel from around the country to adapt and collaborate remotely.  So these design reviews were conducted virtually, between the Air Force program office out of Wright-Patterson AFB and the Boeing T-7A Red Hawk program office in St. Louis, Missouri.  Air Education and Training Command, at Randolph AFB, Texas and the Air Force Test Center at Edwards AFB, California also participated.

The T-7A program kicked off in September 2018 when the Air Force awarded Boeing a $9.2 billion contract to replace Air Education and Training Command's aging T-38C fleet with 351 T-7 training aircraft, along with 46 simulators and associated ground equipment.  The capabilities of the T-7 will provide student pilots with skills necessary to more effectively transition to 4th & 5th generation fighter/bomber aircraft.


The Air Force's all-new advanced trainer aircraft, the T-X, has officially been named the T-7A Red Hawk.

https://www.aflcmc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2212450/t-7a-red-hawk-achieves-another-design-goal/
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

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Covid-19: Red Hawk testing progresses at Edwards AFB

20 MAY 2020 00:00 GMT+0

Boeing and the US Air Force (USAF) have continued testing the T-7A Red Hawk advanced jet trainer aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), despite personnel restrictions put in place because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The USAF reported on 19 May that the 412th Test Wing (TW) at the California base has put in place remote working and other mitigating solutions to protect its airmen and contractors while continuing to progress the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the Red Hawk programme.

"The 412th TW has maintained an operational tempo that rivals pre-virus days, despite geographically separated teams and reduced manning. The 412th TW has continued operations through the adoption of dynamic processes and innovative techniques," the USAF said.

As noted by the service, with these new measures in place the 412th TW has participated in Distributed Test Operations (DTO) with the Red Hawk. "On 30 April the T-7A Test Team executed the first real-time DTO in a mission control room at Ridley Mission Control Center at Edwards AFB. The significance of the DTO process is that it allows engineers within Ridley to view real-time flight tests from remote locations. The latest test took place approximately 2,000 miles away at the Boeing St Louis facility [in Missouri], which allowed engineers at Edwards AFB to watch video and view flight telemetry in real time," the USAF said.

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The first two Red Hawk production representative jets have continued through flight trials despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

https://janescom.sitefinity.cloud/defence-news/news-detail/2020/05/20/2b2bd4d1-d842-4de7-b486-fea78963dd7e
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

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Citaat van: Harald op 18/05/2020 | 09:14 uur
Als ze wel echte decklandingen en katapult lanceringen willen uitvoeren zal het gehele onderstel waarschijnlijk verstevigd moeten worden.   

Niet alleen het onderstel. De airframe zal ook op diverse plaatsen moeten worden versterkt. Gelukkig gaat het om een jet trainer, dus net als bij de ontwikkeling van de BAe Hawk naar de T-45 Goshawk zou het niet al te moeilijk moeten zijn.

China is ook bezig met een maritieme variant van de JL-9 jet trainer.

https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/2020/05/13/58a0338a-288b-4704-a0f5-74d5d7839a58
A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Harald

The RFI, issued on 14 May, calls for information on the suitability of an existing twin-seat land-based jet trainer aircraft design to satisfy certain requirements under consideration for the next generation USN undergraduate jet trainer aircraft.

Specifically, the solicitation noted the capability of this non-developmental aircraft to perform land-based Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP) events and ship-based carrier touch-and-go events for USN and US Marine Corps (USMC) pilots.

According to the RFI, the aircraft is not required to conduct either arrested landing or catapult-assisted take-offs, although it does need to be able to withstand the very high sink-rates associated with carrier landings.

Performance specifications listed by NAVAIR include a top speed in excess of Mach 0.84, an operational ceiling of 41,000 ft, synthetic radar and other sensors, as well as simulated air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons employment. It should also have two rocket/bomb-capable pylons.


https://www.defense-aerospace.com/article-view/release/211255/india-abandons-mmrca-fighter-tender%2C-will-buy-more-tejas-lcas-instead.html

Dit zal wel een aantal aanpassingen geven aan de Red Hawk, maar er is wel vaker gesproken over light fighter en attack capaciteiten. Dus waarschijnlijk zal dit geen problemen opleveren.
Als ze wel echte decklandingen en katapult lanceringen willen uitvoeren zal het gehele onderstel waarschijnlijk verstevigd moeten worden.   

Harald

US Navy begins search for next jet trainer to replace T-45 Goshawk  ( Red Hawk voor de USN ?... )

The US Navy (USN) has begun its search for a new jet trainer to replace its Boeing T-45 Goshawk fleet.

As part of its new Undergraduate Jet Training System programme, the service wants a nondevelopmental, land-based jet trainer aircraft capable of field carrier landing practice and nuclear aircraft carrier touch-and-go landings by 2028 or sooner, according to a request for information posted online on 14 May.

The service wants a two-pilot aircraft with ejection seats. The jet should be able to be flown from either cockpit.

The USN is interested in knowing what aircraft can integrate advanced technologies, such as Precision Landing Mode, which is used to help land the Boeing F-18E/F Super Hornet on aircraft carriers. It also wants the trainer to have an automatic ground collision avoidance system.

The service wants an assessment of how certain aircraft would handle the forces of high sink rate landings, the hallmark of training for landing on the short deck of an aircraft carrier.

The next generation trainer is expected to fly 400h a year. The USN wants to conduct field carrier landing practices at a rate of 1,200 per aircraft per year. It wants each aircraft to perform carrier touch-and-go landings 45 times per year.

The aircraft is to have a flight life of at least 14,400h and be able to sustain 43,200 landings.

The service does not plan to conduct arrested landings or catapult launches from aircraft carriers using the jet trainer. That differs from the T-45, which conducts carrier landings and launches.

The aircraft should have an operational ceiling of 41,000ft. It should be capable of speeds greater than 600kt (1,111km/h).

Likely competitors in the USN's next generation trainer program would be the Boeing-Saab T-7A jet, recent winner of the US Air Force's T-X trainer competition; Lockheed Martin's T-50A, based on the FA-50, a light attack and trainer aircraft developed with Korea Aerospace Industries; and Leonardo's T-100, based on the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Master, a light attack and trainer aircraft.

The T-45 is a variant of the 1970s British Aerospace Hawk, developed jointly for the USN by McDonnell Douglas and British Aerospace. Boeing acquired the programme in 1997 when it merged with McDonnell Douglas.

https://www.defense-aerospace.com/article-view/release/211255/india-abandons-mmrca-fighter-tender%2C-will-buy-more-tejas-lcas-instead.html

Sparkplug

A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Harald

US Air Force looks to rent T-X contest losers to prepare for Boeing T-7A

The US Air Force is looking to rent four to eight jet trainers to perfect its training regime and further refine capabilities needed on the winner of the T-X trainer contest, the Boeing T-7A Red Hawk.

The service's Air Combat Command (ACC) plans to contract Hillwood Aviation to provide the Korea Aerospace Industries/Lockheed Martin T-50A trainer, according to a sole-source notice posted online in January. The sole-source award is being protested by Mission System Solutions which is offering the Leonardo M-346 jet trainer, however.

Both aircraft were put forward for the USAF T-X contest by their manufacturers, but lost to Boeing's T-7A. There is no indication Boeing's T-7A contract, which may include up to up to 351 units, is being replaced.

The initiative is called Reforge Proof of Concept. That is in reference to another USAF idea called Rebuilding the Forge, which intends to speed up the pace of fighter pilot training using the Boeing T-7A.

"The [concept of operations] deliberately develops and experiences fighter aviators with relevant tactical skills prior to their fighter's Formal Training Unit," says the sole-source award.

Formal Training Units are later-stage training groups for new pilots within operational fighter squadrons. The units are intended to educate aviators on the advanced fourth-and fifth-generation aircraft they will be flying, such as the Lockheed Martin F-22, Lockheed Martin F-35, Lockheed Martin F-16 and Boeing F-15.

Because the T-7A is an advanced aircraft, the ACC wants to see if it can complete more training earlier to relieve workload on operational squadrons.

To prove the concept and make last-minute alterations to the configuration of the Boeing T-7As, it plans to conduct a five-year experiment with advanced trainers. The rented jet trainers would provide approximately 3,000 sorties and 4,500 flight hours annually.

Boeing's T-7A is still in the final stages of development and testing, so it is not yet available for the experiment. The first T-7A is not scheduled to arrive at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, until 2023.

The concept also can't be proved with the USAF's current jet trainer, the Northrop T-38 Talon, says David Nichols, chief executive of Mission System Solutions.

"In terms of sensor and information management, that T-38 doesn't come anywhere close," he says. "In order to really move into an operational squadron and to be productive, you've got to learn how to use the system and manage the information in a high-G environment. And, the T-38 was never designed for that. It is well past its time."

The ACC has given few details about why it wants the T-50 via a sole-source contract, but has said it wants an aircraft with "active-radar capable of detecting a fighter-sized target no later than [17.8nm (37km)] or the ability to install one without lapse or disruption of service within one year".

It also wants an "embedded synthetic training system or the ability to install one without lapse or disruption of service within one year." And, an aircraft with the "ability to achieve closure rates of at least 1,100kt (2,040km/h) when conducting in-unit air-to-air training."

https://www.flightglobal.com/fixed-wing/us-air-force-looks-to-rent-t-x-contest-losers-to-prepare-for-boeing-t-7a/137416.article

Harald

meer inhoudelijke info :

Saab begins T-X assembly

Saab has started assembly of the first aft-fuselage section of the T-7A Red Hawk for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the US Air Force's (USAF's) T-X trainer aircraft replacement programme.

The Swedish manufacturer said on 21 January that it had begun building the first section from just aft of the cockpit to the rear of the trainer aircraft that it has developed as a partner to the T-X prime contractor, Boeing.

"In little over a year since we signed the EMD contract, we are starting production of our part of the T-7A jet," Saab said in a statement.

With two production representative jets (PRJs) already built and flying, the EMD contract awarded in September 2018 was for five more aircraft for flight trials, plus one fuselage for static and one fuselage for fatigue testing.

Saab is now building these seven EMD aft-fuselage units at its plant in Linköping, Sweden, ahead of transfer to Boeing's St. Louis facility in Missouri for aircraft final assembly. As noted by Saab, the work currently being carried out in Linköping will be transferred to West Lafayette in Indiana, where sections for about 60 aircraft will be turned out per year.

Previously, Saab has declined to say when the first EMD aircraft will fly, noting that "this is very sensitive information for the USAF".

Besides Boeing and Saab, other industry suppliers so far disclosed comprise General Electric, Triumph Group, Collins Aerospace, L3 Technologies, and Elbit Systems.

The USAF has a programme-of-record of 351 Red Hawk aircraft to replace the Northrop T-38 Talon that has been in service since the 1960s. With the first aircraft set to be delivered to Randolph Air Force Base (AFB), Texas, in 2023, initial operational capability (IOC) is scheduled for 2024. All undergraduate pilot training bases will eventually transition from the T-38C to the T-7A, including those at Columbus AFB, Mississippi; Laughlin AFB and Sheppard AFB, Texas; and Vance AFB, Oklahoma.

https://www.janes.com/article/93844/saab-begins-t-x-assembly

Harald

Saab commences production for T-7A Red Hawk programme



Saab has commenced assembly production for the Boeing T-7A Red Hawk advanced jet trainer.

The Swedish company says it is producing seven aft fuselage sections in Linköping, Sweden which will then undergo final assembly at Boeing's factory in St. Louis, Missouri.

Saab's future production work will take place in West Lafayette, Indiana. Boeing, which serves as prime contractor for the T-7A, and Saab partnered on the programme.

"In little over a year since we signed the [engineering and manufacturing development] contract, we are starting production of our part of the T-7A jet," says Saab executive Jonas Hjelm.

"This achievement is possible due to the great collaboration between Saab and Boeing, and it is an honour to be part of this programme for the United States Air Force."

Boeing won a $9.2 billion contract in September 2018 to supply the USAF with 351 T-7A aircraft, 46 simulators and associated ground equipment. The service is replacing its fleet of Northrop T-38C Talons that started entering service in 1961.

https://www.flightglobal.com/saab-commences-production-for-t-7a-red-hawk-programme/136269.article


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Citaat van: Huzaar1 op 17/09/2019 | 15:13 uur
Heeft de vormgeving en uoterlijke eigenschappen van een jaren 70 ontwerp. Maar wellicht is dat juist fijn bij een trainee?

Bij een jet trainer speelt het uiterlijk een iets minder belangrijke rol. Het gaat meer om de bediening en hoe de jet trainer reageert. Niet alleen jachtvliegers worden hiermee opgeleid. De overstap van de huidige T-38 naar bijvoorbeeld F-35 is eigenlijk te groot.

Maakt het wel weer interessant hoe de M-346 en de T-7A zich zullen verhouden.

A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.

Huzaar1

Heeft de vormgeving en uoterlijke eigenschappen van een jaren 70 ontwerp. Maar wellicht is dat juist fijn bij een trainee?
"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion" US secmindef - Jed Babbin"

Sparkplug

A fighter without a gun . . . is like an airplane without a wing.

-- Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF.