The Boeing [BA] T-7A Red Hawk trainer aircraft arrived at Eglin AFB, Fla., on Dec. 15 for climate testing at the base’s McKinley Climatic Laboratory, the U.S. Air Force said on Dec. 19.
“The purpose of the testing is to verify the T-7A’s system functionality while operating in extreme environmental conditions,” the service said. “Among others, those conditions consist of minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit and up to 110 degrees sustained temperatures. The climatic chamber testing will evaluate the aircraft system’s performance including propulsion, hydraulic, fuel, electrical, secondary power, environmental control, and overall operations.”
The Air Force said that T-7A developmental flight test began on Nov. 8 at Edwards AFB, Calif.
Boeing has said that the T-7A’s digital fly-by-wire system will make Air Force flight training simpler.
Boeing is targeting the third quarter of next year for a decision to proceed into low-rate production of the T-7A and the Air Force is aiming for the first quarter of 2025, Boeing said (Defense Daily, May 26).
Section 135 of the fiscal 2024 defense authorization conference report extends by five years–from March 1, 2028 to March 1, 2033–the annual reporting requirement by the Air Force acquisition chief to Congress on the current acquisition strategy, cost, and schedule for the T-7A.
The conferees also add requirements for the annual report to include “a schedule risk assessment, conducted by the secretary of the Air Force at the 80 percent confidence level, that includes risks associated with the overlap of the development, testing, and production phases of the program and risks related to contractor management” and “a plan for determining the conditions under which the secretary of the Air Force may accept production work on the T–7A Advanced Pilot Training System that was completed by the contractor for the program in anticipation of the Air Force ordering additional systems, but which was not subject to typical production oversight because there was no contract for the procurement of such additional systems in effect when such work was performed.”
In 2018, Boeing and its T-7A teammate Saab won an up to $9.2 billion contract for 351 T-7As to replace the Air Force’s T-38Cs. The program schedule called for 14 T-7As to reach initial operational capability (IOC) in March 2026. Now the Air Force is projecting January 2027 for IOC.
The T-7A’s advanced mission systems, a glass touchscreen cockpit, and stadium seating “will drastically improve training for the next generation of fighter and bomber pilots and will better prepare student pilots to advance into fourth and fifth generation fighter and bomber aircraft,” the Air Force said.
T-7A production aircraft have the “Red Tail” symbol of World War II’s elite Tuskegee Airmen. The “Red Hawk” nickname stems from the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, a fighter flown by the 99th Fighter Squadron before the introduction of the P-51 Mustang. The 99th Fighter Squadron was the U.S. Army Air Forces’ first African-American fighter squadron.