Boeing T-7 Red Hawk

 

T-7 Red Hawk
The Boeing/Saab T-7 Red Hawk, originally known as the Boeing T-X, is an American/Swedish advanced jet trainer produced by Boeing in partnership with Saab. It was selected on 27 September 2018 by the United States Air Force (USAF) as the winner of the T-X program to replace the Northrop T-38 Talon

Role	Advanced Trainer
National origin	United States/Sweden
Manufacturer	Boeing/Saab
Status	In Production
Primary User	US Air Force
First Flight	20 December 2016
Number Built	2

 

The T-7A Red Hawk is all-new advanced pilot training system designed for the U.S. Air Force that will train the future pilots of next generation fighter and bomber planes. The Red Hawk builds off the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen, paying tribute to the legends of the past and the heroes of the future. Designed using a digital thread, the T-7A aligns with the U.S. Air Force’s Digital Century Series strategy by enabling the integration of new concepts and capabilities faster and more affordably through virtual testing.

The USAF's Air Education and Training Command (AETC) began developing the requirements for a replacement for the Northrop T-38 Talon as early as 2003. Originally, the replacement trainer was expected to enter service around 2020. A fatigue failure of a T-38C killed the two-person crew in 2008 and the USAF advanced the target date of initial operational capability (IOC) to 2017.

In the Fiscal 2013 budget proposal, the USAF suggested delaying the initial operating capability to FY2020 with the contract award not expected before FY2016. Shrinking budgets and higher priority modernization projects pushed the IOC of the T-X program winner to "fiscal year 2023 or 2024". Although the program was left out of the FY 2014 budget entirely, the service still viewed the trainer as a priority. In cooperation with its Swedish aerospace partner, Saab, Boeing's submission to the competition was the Boeing T-X, a single-engine advanced jet trainer with a twin tail, tandem seating, and retractable tricycle landing gear. The submitted aircraft and demonstration models featured a General Electric F404 afterburning turbofan engine. Boeing revealed its aircraft to the public on 13 September 2016. The first T-X aircraft flew on 20 December 2016.
On 27 September 2018, Boeing's design was officially announced as the USAF's new advanced jet trainer to replace the T-38 Talon. A total of 351 aircraft and 46 simulators, maintenance training and support are to be supplied at a program cost of US$9.2 billion. In May 2019, Saab announced that it would open a U.S. manufacturing facility for the T-X in Indiana in partnership with Purdue University.

On 16 September 2019, the USAF officially named the aircraft the "T-7A Red Hawk" as a tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen, who painted their airplanes' tails red, and to the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, one of the aircraft flown by the Tuskegee Airmen.  Boeing intends to offer an armed version of the T-7 as replacement for aging Northrop F-5 and Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet fleets around the world. The design officially entered production in February 2021.

A DIGITAL DESIGN

                Boeing’s T-7A Red Hawk was built to include provisions for improve supportability, upgradeable, growth, and innovate a maintenance-friendly design. The aircraft was built with digital engineering processes, agile software development and an open architecture mission system to enable more rapid, affordable future aircraft development. These modern, computer-driven manufacturing techniques serve as an enabler for the U.S. Air Force’s Digital Century Series strategy while additionally increasing the supply base choices.

ADVANCED CAPABILITIES

The T-7A went from concept to first flight in three years as a result of a “breaking the norm” paradigm that includes a modular design of the aircraft developed specifically for maintainers, highly immersive training and offloading of skills and advanced fighter-like performance features that are commensurate with today’s 4th and 5th-gen fighter aircraft.
Ground-Based Training Systems (GBTS), encompassing a full range of physical devices and instructional techniques, will prepare students for and supplement training conducted in the T-7A. The aircraft is a flexible, modifiable solution that adapts easily to people, software and systems so future technologies can be easily implemented, pilots can adjust to their personal preferences and the entire system can be applied to other missions. By adapting to changing technologies and learning methods, and by downloading more expensive training, the T-7A produces better prepared pilots in less time.
The T-7A’s design includes provisions for growth as requirements evolve for additional missions such as an aggressor, light attack / fighter variant.
 
AFFORDABLE SUSTAINMENT

The T-7A’s purpose-built digital approach and immersive development techniques validated supportability issues and innovated a maintenance-friendly design throughout, increasing availability and lowering sustainment costs. Additionally, common sub-systems with 4th and 5th-gen fighters allows the use of existing maintenance infrastructure, further lowering life cycle costs.
The Red Hawk’s fighter-like design and performance, combined with embedded and live virtual constructive training, allows the download of training tasks from the existing fleet to a lesser cost platform while simultaneously delivering realistic training solutions that better prepare pilots for the training mission.

With key maintenance features that greatly improve mean time to repair – including high wing, easy access doors, and quick release panels – the T-7A is an affordable, reliable solution.