Christine Thropp
Saab has delivered an aft airframe section to Boeing that the latter will use for the development of trainer aircraft under a potential 16-year, $9.2 billion contract from the U.S. Air Force.
The company is in partnership with Boeing to provide the service branch with up to 475 T-X trainer aircraft and 120 ground-based training platforms and the third aft airframe section delivery is part of the T-7A Red Hawk program‘s engineering and manufacturing development phase, Saab said Friday.
The advanced pilot training system, which will be used by the Air Force to train combat pilots, draws from the two companies’ experience in designing, engineering and manufacturing military aircraft.
“This airframe will be part of the first T-7A to fly and is another step towards the start of production in our brand new state of the art facility in West Lafayette, Indiana,” said Jonas Hjelm, senior vice president and head of aeronautics business area at Saab.
In 2018, Boeing won the T-X trainer contract that seeks to replace the Air Force’s fleet of T-38C Talon trainers. Production at the company’s St. Louis location is expected to occur through 2034.
