USAF velger T-38 etterfølger ved slutten av sommeren - AW&ST

Defense Competitions To Watch: Trainer Faceoff Jen DiMascio  It is almost prime time for the U.S. Air Force’s long-delayed T-X trainer program. Three industry teams have been waiting since December 2016 for the service to select the winner of a contract worth up to $16 billion. The chosen team will build 350 next-generation trainers to replace the aging Northrop T-38 Talons, as well as gain a foothold in the global trainer market. But the announcement is not expected until the end of the summer.  Boeing Boeing-Saab’s sleek, twin-tail BTX is the only remaining clean-sheet T-X design. If it is selected, Triumph Aerospace Structures would supply the wing, vertical tail and horizontal structures, and Saab would open a manufacturing hub in the U.S. so 90% of the aircraft would be built stateside. That 90% includes the aircraft’s General Electric F404 afterburning turbofan engine. Final assembly and checkout would take place at Boeing’s St. Louis facility.

Credit: Boeing

Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) have proposed a version of their KAI T-50 Golden Eagle, which first flew in 2002. Codeveloped with Lockheed’s Skunk Works and powered by a single General Electric F404 engine, built in Lynn, Massachusetts, the T-50A itself will be built in Greenville, South Carolina. If selected, KAI will build the major structural components of the T-50A and support development and sustainment.

Credit: Lockheed Martin

Leonardo DRS Leonardo DRS, the U.S. arm of Italian aerospace company Leonardo, is offering a version of its two-seat M-346 Master. If chosen, the majority of the aircraft will be produced in a new manufacturing facility to be built at Alabama’s historic Moton Field, where the Tuskegee Airmen once trained. The facility will be modeled after the high-tech manufacturing plant currently producing M-346 aircraft in Italy. A spokesman would not disclose the percentage of the T-100 made in Italy. CAE would make the ground-based training systems in Tampa, Florida, while Honeywell Aerospace would build the F124 propulsion system in Phoenix.

Credit: Leonardo