Unveiling Set For September 13, According To Reports

Boeing will likely roll out the airplane it hopes to sell to the U.S. Air Force as a primary trainer next week, but the planemaker is giving a few hints about its T-X candidate on its website.

The Air Force will soon select an airplane that will replace the aging T-38 trainer first built by Northrop Grumman in 1959. Production of that airplane ended in 1972, but it has remained the primary trainer for Air Force. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that a team consisting of Boeing and Saab, the maker of the Gripen fighter jet, is offering the T-X in the competition to replace the Talon.

An RFP for the new trainer is expected to be released by the Air Force by the end of the year, with a contract award coming in 2017, according to Janes. Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries will offer the T-50A. Raytheon has partnered with Leonardo Group on the T-100, which is an upgraded version of the Alenia Aermacchi M-346 advanced jet trainer.

Northrop Grumman is leading a team that includes BAE Systems and Scaled Composites to offer a clean-sheet design in the T-X competition.

The contract could be worth up to $11 billion to the successful bidder.

(Image provided by Boeing)

FMI: www.boeing.com/defense/t-x/