BAE Systems said yesterday Rolls-Royce is joining its Hawk Advanced Jet Training System (AJTS) team as an exclusive partner to help compete for the Air Force’s potentially $30 billion T-X trainer program, according to a BAE statement.
As the engine supplier to BAE on this pursuit, Rolls-Royce will lead the support and integration of the Adour Mk951on the Hawk AJTS aircraft. Rolls-Royce joins BAE, Northrop Grumman [NOC] and L-3 Communications [LLL] as the fourth member of the Hawk AJTS team, which is offered to replace the Air Force’s T-38 trainer aircraft.
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| Northrop Grumman’s T-38 trainer. Photo: Air Force. |
The Air Force earlier this year pushed its goal for getting the long-delayed T-X trainer into its fleet to 2023 or 2024, a decade later than its original goal of late 2013 or early 2014. Boeing [BA] said in June it would bid for T-X while General Dynamics [GD] and Finmeccanica’s Alenia Aermacchi said they’d also team for T-X. Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Korea Aerospace were said to offer Lockheed Martin’s T-50 (Defense Daily, June 18).