NEXT-GEN TRAINER: T-7A RED HAWK PROGRAM GAINING SPEED.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin
• Position: TRAINING & SIMULATION

* Last year the Air Force announced that it had tapped a Boeing-Saab team to build its next-generation pilot trainer that would prepare its aviators for future fights. A year out, the team is hitting program milestones as it works to deliver the first aircraft in 2023.

The T-7A Red Hawk "will be the staple of a new generation of aircraft," said Matthew Donovan, then-acting secretary of the Air Force, during remarks at an industry conference in September. Donovan has since returned to his position as undersecretary of the Air Force following the swearing in of Barbara Barrett as secretary of the service in October.

"The Red Hawk offers advanced capabilities for training tomorrow's pilots on data links, simulated radar, smart weapons, defensive management systems, as well as synthetic training capabilities," Donovan said.

The first aircraft and its associated simulators are slated to arrive at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, in 2023 as a replacement for the T-38C Talon trainer, he added.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said the difference between the T-38 and the service's fifth-generation platform, the F-35 joint strike fighter, is night and day.

"But with the T-7A the distance is much, much smaller, and that's important because it means the pilots trained on it will be that much better, that much faster at a time when we must be able to train to the speed of the threat," he said in a statement.

The Air Force's indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the T-7A has an estimated ceiling of $9.2 billion for both the aircraft and ground-based training systems. The contract provided for the anticipated delivery of 351 aircraft, 46 associated training devices and other ancillary supplies and services such as initial spares, support equipment, sustainment and training. Additionally, it also includes the initial delivery order for engineering and manufacturing development of the aircraft and ground-based components for $813.39 million.

According to the contract agreement, the maximum number of aircraft and training devices the Air Force can purchase is 475 planes and 120 ground-based training systems. Work is expected to be completed by 2034.

The T-7A will include stadium seating, an advanced cockpit and digital fly-by-wire flight controls, according to Boeing. It employs a General Electric F404 engine and has a wingspan of 30.60 feet, a length of 46.93 feet and a height of 13.55 feet.

Steve "Bull" Schmidt, the company's...