Naomi Cooper
The U.S. Air Force and Boeing have performed the maiden flight of the service’s first T-7A Red Hawk pilot training aircraft to signal the beginning of the program’s engineering and manufacturing development phase.
The digitally designed trainer jet flew for 1 hour and 3 minutes and demonstrated its ability to support fighter and bomber pilot training, Boeing said Wednesday.
The jet is the first T-7A aircraft built and delivered to the Air Force in the EMD lot.
Boeing developed and tested the aircraft using advanced manufacturing, model-based engineering and 3D design.
The trainer is equipped with an L3Harris Technologies-manufactured processor technology that features sensors and data communications capabilities.
In September 2018, the Air Force awarded Boeing a potential 16-year, $9.2 billion contract to produce up to 475 T-7A trainer aircraft and 120 ground-based training platforms.
The company works with Saab on the development of the next-generation pilot training system scheduled to be operational by 2024.
