Italy’s Leonardo announced Feb. 8 that it plans to join the field of companies competing to develop and build the U.S. Air Force’s T-X trainer jet.
Leonardo will offer its T-100 jet with its United States company, Leonardo DRS, as the prime contractor. The T-100 is based on the M-346 aircraft, which entered service in Israel, Italy and Singapore a few years ago and is also being acquired by Poland.
Mauro Moretti, Leonardo’s chief executive officer and general manager, touted his company’s “deep experience in military pilots’ training,” while Bill Lynn, CEO of Leonardo DRS, described the T-100 as “mature, readily available and technologically advanced.”
The announcement came two weeks after Raytheon [RTN] and Leonardo said Jan. 25 that they had decided against competing jointly because they were unable to reach a business agreement. Richard Aboulafia, vice president of analysis at the Teal Group, said the T-100 is relatively expensive, meaning Leonardo will face an uphill fight against T-X frontrunners Boeing [BA]-Saab and Lockheed Martin [LMT]-Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI).
“This has become a very cost-driven competition, and this is a company and a jet that are not famous for low cost,” Aboulafia told Defense Daily. “And they no longer have a partner that’s going to do any good in lowering their costs. I just don’t see the point, even though it is a good aircraft.”
The T-100 is equipped with twin F124 turbofan propulsion engines provided by International Turbine Engine Company (ITEC), a joint venture between Honeywell [HON] and Taiwan’s AIDC. CAE USA would help Leonardo develop the T-100 ground-based training system for the T-X program.
The Air Force issued a request for proposals for T-X, also known as the Advanced Pilot Training program, in late December. T-X will replace the aging T-38 trainer.