Nichols Martin
Boeing and Saab are reaching developmental milestones on schedule for the T-7A Red Hawk trainer towards the aircraft“™s planned production start in late 2020, Aviation Today reported Friday.
Paul Niewald, chief engineer for the T-7A program at Boeing, told reported that the two single-engine T-7A test units have so far completed around 140 test flights to demonstrate compliance with requirements.
He noted that the program“™s aircraft portion finished preliminary and critical design reviews in September. The tests also included high-speed, low-altitude flights, the engineer added.
The program designed and produced the two T-7A test units within 36 months via modeling-based approaches such as virtual reality.
Boeing and Saab are working to develop and manufacture T-X or T-7A trainer aircraft under a $9.2B contract with the U.S. Air Force awarded September last year. The aircraft“™s initial low rate production run is scheduled for 2023.
