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.
