Boeing to Offer Peek at New Air Force Training Jet

By Paul Ausick Updated Apr 27, 5:58PM EDT · Published Sep 11, 11:05AM EDT

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At the Air Force Association conference near Washington, D.C., next week, Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) will have a demonstrator trailer to show a selected guest list the first details of the company’s design for a new training jet for the U.S. Air Force. The so-called T-X trainer will replace the 50-year old T-38 currently used to train bomber and fighter pilots, and it may even be adapted to replace the T-1 that is used to train airlift and tanker pilots.

Boeing and Saab have teamed up and are working on a clean-sheet design for the T-X. According to a report at Defense News, admission to the demonstrator trailer will be by invitation only, and a Boeing official has said the company has “no plans to display the design through models or artwork at the company’s booth.”

Boeing and Saab already have denied that the T-X design will be a rework of Saab’s Gripen fighter plane. On Thursday, Saab concluded a contract for 36 of the Gripen fighters from Brazil.

Other expected bidders on the Air Force trainer contract are a clean-sheet design from Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) and perhaps another clean-sheet design from Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT). General Dynamics has withdrawn from a partnership with Italy’s Finmeccanica subsidiary Alenia Aermacchi to modify the company’s M-346 trainer.

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The catch in all this is that the Air Force does not have funding for a new trainer, although last year’s defense budget included a requirement that the service investigate modernization or replacement of the T-1 trainer. Combining the two aircraft would save money, but the design work would likely be more complex and take longer. If the two are combined, the expected order of 350 jets to replace the T-38 would increase by about 200 to accommodate new planes to replace the T-1.

It is early days yet. The Air Force has not yet decided on an acquisition strategy for the T-X, nor has it sorted out the terms it would offer. An Air Force official told Defense News:

As we get greater insight and have this dialogue with industry, we’ll be able to understand the risk, and risk is really what determines the contract type. There will be probably some combination of cost-plus or cost-reimbursable and fixed-price depending on what you’re going after.

Boeing is putting its stake in the ground early. A contract for the T-X is not expected before late 2017. The company is also awaiting a decision that is due this fall on the Long-Range Strike Bomber, aka B-3, where it and its partner Lockheed are competing with Northrop Grumman. The fate of Boeing’s St. Louis defense operations may depend on winning one of these contracts, and because it will happen sooner, Boeing would probably rather have the B-3 contract.

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Here are photos of the Saab Gripen (top) and the Alenia Aermacchi M-346:

About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.