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Boeing: T-7A program sees significant efficiencies due to digital engineering tools

By Courtney Albon / June 4, 2020 at 12:15 PM

As the T-7A Advanced Pilot Training program moves from design into the build phase, after passing air vehicle and ground-based training system critical design reviews in March, prime contractor Boeing says the program's use of digital engineering tools is reducing the time it takes to integrate hardware and software, increasing quality and providing key analytics as the program crafts future test plans.

Boeing's T-7A program manager Chuck Dabundo told Inside Defense in a recent interview the program has started building parts and expects to begin assembly of the five test jets and two structural test articles later this year in St. Louis. At the same time, the program completed is 200th flight in April using two production-representative aircraft that Boeing built prior to being awarded a contract in 2018.

"The planes are flying well, and we're doing some pretty cool things," Dabundo said.

While the T-7A is largely incorporating mature technologies, the Air Force has identified the program as a pathfinder for digital design and engineering. Paul Niewald, Boeing's T-7A chief engineer, said that to date, the program has seen the efficiencies it projected from using digital tools, including a 50% decrease in the time it takes to develop and field software, an 80% reduction in touch labor and a 75% increase in first-time quality, which means that because of three-dimensional modeling, the team is able to locate parts "with exacting detail."

"An example would be, we were able to splice the fuselage, the forward and aft fuselage, together in less than 30 minutes, where traditionally it would take a couple shifts," Niewald said