Naomi Cooper
Boeing has awarded L3Harris Technologies a $91.5 million contract to manufacture and deliver mission-management processors for the U.S. Air Force’s advanced pilot training aircraft.
L3Harris said Tuesday the processor technology for the T-7A Red Hawk jets features sensors and communications capabilities to connect internal and external data networks and link video feed to the aircraft’s display systems.
The processors will be supplied as part of the trainer’s open-system architecture and include extra payload slots to enable rapid integration of mission capabilities.
L3Harris bases the technology on its suite of mission-management processors installed into the Boeing-built MQ-25 aerial refueling drone and the F-35 and F/A-18 multirole aircraft.
Boeing partners with Saab to manufacture and deliver up to 475 T-7A trainer aircraft to the Air Force under a potential 16-year, $9.2 billion contract awarded in 2018.
The next-generation pilot training system is scheduled to be operational by 2024.
