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L' articolo prosegue qui: flightglobal.com ... "Saab nears decision on US facility for T-X work" ...Saab will pick the location of a US facility to host its production activities in support of the Boeing-led T-X jet trainer programme by mid-year, according to the Swedish company's chief executive.
"In the first half of this year we will decide on where we will allocate our production in the USA," Buskhe said during an annual results presentation on 15 February.
L' articolo prosegue qui: defensenews.com ... "Boeing’s T-X could be coming to the Middle East - and not just as a trainer jet" ...Boeing and Saab’s T-X trainer jet, fresh off of winning the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation trainer competition, could be bought by nations in the Middle East for a variety of different missions, according to a Boeing executive at the International Defense Exhibition in the United Arab Emirates.
“We are seeing quite a bit of interest in the T-X,” said Mark Ballew, director of sales and marketing for International Government Services at Boeing Global Services.
“We are getting quite a few inquiries about T-X and when would it be available.”
Ballew declined to comment about which countries were interested in the aircraft--or what type of missions those countries were looking at.
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And while it’s widely assumed that foreign militaries, particularly those that operate the F-35, could potentially buy the T-X, its been assumed that it would likely be in the trainer role.
But in Boeing’s media briefing at IDEX, Ballew indicated that the company sees a much wider market for the jet, in things like aggressor training and even as a lightweight fighter.
L'articolo continua qui: defensenews.com ... "Boeing pushes T-X trainer, complementary simulators at Australian air show" ...Boeing is promoting its T-X advanced trainer and its associated training system at the Avalon Airshow in Australia, positioning itself for a possible opportunity there.
Speaking to reporters at the show, Boeing’s vice president of international sales for strike, surveillance and mobility, Thom Breckenridge, emphasized the holistic training system that includes ground-based training and support offered by the company, with its T-X aircraft being a part of the whole system.
These included leveraging on improvements in technology such as the visual acuity of simulators, with Breckenridge noting that training will be more effective with the pilot “optimizing the time spent in a ground-based trainer versus in a jet later on.”
After years of insisting the T-X competition was only meant to yield an advanced T-38 trainer replacement - and very explicitly not a future Aggressor or in other roles also filled by the T-38 - the Air Force is now considering it for precisely those and other missions.
The announcement comes just a few months after the T-X competition was won by the team of Boeing and Saab of Sweden.
“We worked hard on making requirements for the T-X that were focused on the training mission,” Air Combat Command chief Gen. Mike Holmes told reporters at AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla. “We guarded that requirement because we wanted to hold the cost down and make it affordable and we wanted to stick with just that requirement.”
Now that the requirement has been set, Holmes said his staff is looking at applying the T-X to other missions, such as “downloading” some training now done in fighters to the T-X, which has lower operating cost and performs better than the T-38 in some regimes.
L' articolo ... blogbeforeflight.net ... https://www.blogbeforeflight.net/2019/0 ... iment.html ...The Light Attack program is clearly undergoing a phase of reassessment and anything can happen.
We expect that aircraft such as the M-346 (or T-100) can once again be evaluated.
The M-346 was one of the competitors of the Boeing aircraft in the T-X program and is certainly the most appropriate jet to meet the additional needs of the USAF.
The new combat variant M-346FA is currently in an advanced development stage and includes all the features that a light attack aircraft should have.
.. defensenews.com .. "The Air Force’s new trainer jet is attracting the Navy’s and Marine Corps’ interests" ..The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are monitoring the development of the Air Force’s T-X training jet, but it may be years before they can launch their own competitions to replace the T-45, officials said Monday.
“We’re watching the T-X. Obviously the Air Force is going through that process,” Lt. Gen. Steven Rudder, the Marine Corps’ deputy commandant for aviation, said during a panel at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space conference.
“At some point, we’re going to have to replace the T-45. We’re going to have to replace the F-5,” he said, referring to the T-45 Goshawk (used by the Navy and Marine Corps to train fighter pilots) and the F-5 (used to simulate adversaries during exercises).
... flightglobal.com ... "Saab to set up Indiana factory for T-X work" ...Saab will open a new manufacturing site in Indiana to support its contribution to the T-X advanced jet trainer, which it jointly developed with prime contractor Boeing, and other advanced projects.
The facility will be located in West Lafayette, at the Discovery Park District, which is affiliated with Purdue University.
From 2020, when construction will start, Saab says it has earmarked $37 million for the development.
Ultimately the new facility will create up to 300 jobs.
Initially, the site will focus on aeronautical engineering and making structures and Saab parts for the T-X, on order for the US Air Force (USAF).
In addition, Saab has a partnership with the university, to perform research and development work on sensors, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems.
... airforcemag.com ... "Boeing Sees Market for 2,600 T-X, Derivative Aircraft" ...Boeing sees a potential market for up to 2,600 of the T-X advanced trainers in variants ranging from trainer to light strike and light fighter, said William Torgerson, senior director of T-X program integration at the company.
That includes the “up to 475” jets the Air Force asked for in the T-X competition, which focused only on the trainer mission and not variants for other USAF missions now or previously performed by the 60-year-old T-38, which the T-X will replace, Torgerson said.
Those missions have also included Aggressors and companion trainers.
Torgerson spoke at a factory tour for the media at Boeing’s St. Louis, Mo., facilities, where the T-X will be produced.
His briefing was the first for the media since Boeing won the T-X contest.
Boeing furnished travel and accommodations to press covering the event.
Ma ... cosa sta aspettando l' USAF per assegnargli una designazione ufficiale definitiva ?Inside Boeing’s Secret Formula to Win T-X ...
Steve Trimble - Aerospace Daily & Defense Report (AW&ST) - May 15, 2019
Ever since Boeing’s winning bid for the T-X trainer contract came in last September at least $10 billion less than the U.S. Air Force’s original estimate, blowing away two established competitors with a clean-sheet aircraft design, the question has persisted: Did the Boeing and Saab team “buy in” to the program by submitting a money-losing price to secure a franchise defense contract?
The answer carries strategic implications for the company.
If yes, then Boeing can expect to lose money up front as it delivers at least 351 T-X trainers through the next decade and hope to recoup the losses over the long-term with revenue from sustainment, modernization and potential derivatives.
If no, then Boeing has created a disruptively affordable template for new product development that can be applied widely across the company, just as new opportunities arise to develop a new mid-market airplane for the civil market, and a new class of high-speed rotorcraft and fixed-wing combat aircraft in the military sector.
Not surprisingly, Boeing insists the answer is the latter, and, for the first time, provided details of the secret formula that helped the company shock the market and impress the Air Force with its winning proposal for the T-X program.
The origins of Boeing’s T-X strategy started with recognizing the scale of the challenge.
When Boeing officials partnered with Saab to design a clean-sheet aircraft for the T-X program in 2013, they knew they were competing with two proven mature aircraft designs - Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI)/Lockheed Martin’s T-50 and Leonardo’s T-100, a derivative of the M346.
Both had emerged over the last two decades as the clear leaders in the market for advanced jet trainers.
“We were competing against proven, in production aircraft, so we had to do things differently if we were going to compete and have an aircraft that was viable for that campaign,” said Paul Niewald, Boeing’s T-X chief engineer, who briefed reporters during a media tour of the company’s factory complex in St. Louis on May 15.
The team decided to adopt an extreme approach to model-based engineering.
It’s a discipline of product design that calls for constructing an elaborate, three-dimensional digital model of the entire aircraft.
The model allows engineers to analyze aerodynamic flows and loads, create a manufacturing plan and distribute the design seamlessly throughout the supply chain.
Although the concept of model-based engineering is not unique to Boeing in the aerospace industry, Niewald believes that Boeing took it further than the competition.
“Yes, 3D design has been out there. But to be able to put it all together through the process, all the way through production, this gave us the opportunity to prove it out and show that it does have time-savings,” he said.
Another factor was adopting an agile approach to software development. Instead of building up large blocks of software over several months or even years, the functions are broken down into smaller increments that are integrated at the system level every two months.
“This had us basically releasing software every eight weeks,” Niewald said.
“By doing this in such a disciplined manner at a frequency it allowed us to reduce our software [lines of code] by 50% [compared to a traditional aircraft development program].”
The approach allowed Boeing to build and fly two aircraft within three years of the program launch in 2013.
When this journalist referred to the two T-X aircraft built so far as “prototypes” and implying they don’t represent the production standard, a Boeing spokesperson stepped in to point out that they are not considered prototypes internally.
Instead, the aircraft are close to the baseline design of the aircraft ordered during the engineering, manufacturing and development (EMD) phase to support ground and flight testing, said Ted Torgerson, Boeing’s T-X program manager.
“Obviously we didn’t have the final specification when we designed the first two, but we got really close,” Torgerson said.
“There are some things that needed to be modified. But that’s what EMD is about. It’s that delta work to get the next EMD aircraft done. But I will tell you that the mold line doesn’t change in the airplane. That’s why we call it ‘EMD-ready.’”
The model-based engineering approach saved time in more ways, Niewald added.
Informed by the digitally accurate design, suppliers delivered parts fit precisely the first time, he said.
The first two aircraft were assembled without shims on minimal tooling with a re-work rate of 0.3%, he said.
Overall, the assembly process took 80% fewer hours than an estimate of how long it would take to build the aircraft under traditional processes, he added.
If yes, then Boeing can expect to lose money up front as it delivers at least 351 T-X trainers through the next decade and hope to recoup the losses over the long-term with revenue from sustainment, modernization and potential derivatives.
If no, then Boeing has created a disruptively affordable template for new product development that can be applied widely across the company, just as new opportunities arise to develop a new mid-market airplane for the civil market, and a new class of high-speed rotorcraft and fixed-wing combat aircraft in the military sector.
Not surprisingly, Boeing insists the answer is the latter, and, for the first time, provided details of the secret formula that helped the company shock the market and impress the Air Force with its winning proposal for the T-X program.
The origins of Boeing’s T-X strategy started with recognizing the scale of the challenge.
When Boeing officials partnered with Saab to design a clean-sheet aircraft for the T-X program in 2013, they knew they were competing with two proven mature aircraft designs - Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI)/Lockheed Martin’s T-50 and Leonardo’s T-100, a derivative of the M346.
Both had emerged over the last two decades as the clear leaders in the market for advanced jet trainers.
“We were competing against proven, in production aircraft, so we had to do things differently if we were going to compete and have an aircraft that was viable for that campaign,” said Paul Niewald, Boeing’s T-X chief engineer, who briefed reporters during a media tour of the company’s factory complex in St. Louis on May 15.
The team decided to adopt an extreme approach to model-based engineering.
It’s a discipline of product design that calls for constructing an elaborate, three-dimensional digital model of the entire aircraft.
The model allows engineers to analyze aerodynamic flows and loads, create a manufacturing plan and distribute the design seamlessly throughout the supply chain.
Although the concept of model-based engineering is not unique to Boeing in the aerospace industry, Niewald believes that Boeing took it further than the competition.
“Yes, 3D design has been out there. But to be able to put it all together through the process, all the way through production, this gave us the opportunity to prove it out and show that it does have time-savings,” he said.
Another factor was adopting an agile approach to software development. Instead of building up large blocks of software over several months or even years, the functions are broken down into smaller increments that are integrated at the system level every two months.
“This had us basically releasing software every eight weeks,” Niewald said.
“By doing this in such a disciplined manner at a frequency it allowed us to reduce our software [lines of code] by 50% [compared to a traditional aircraft development program].”
The approach allowed Boeing to build and fly two aircraft within three years of the program launch in 2013.
When this journalist referred to the two T-X aircraft built so far as “prototypes” and implying they don’t represent the production standard, a Boeing spokesperson stepped in to point out that they are not considered prototypes internally.
Instead, the aircraft are close to the baseline design of the aircraft ordered during the engineering, manufacturing and development (EMD) phase to support ground and flight testing, said Ted Torgerson, Boeing’s T-X program manager.
“Obviously we didn’t have the final specification when we designed the first two, but we got really close,” Torgerson said.
“There are some things that needed to be modified. But that’s what EMD is about. It’s that delta work to get the next EMD aircraft done. But I will tell you that the mold line doesn’t change in the airplane. That’s why we call it ‘EMD-ready.’”
The model-based engineering approach saved time in more ways, Niewald added.
Informed by the digitally accurate design, suppliers delivered parts fit precisely the first time, he said.
The first two aircraft were assembled without shims on minimal tooling with a re-work rate of 0.3%, he said.
Overall, the assembly process took 80% fewer hours than an estimate of how long it would take to build the aircraft under traditional processes, he added.
... defensenews.com ... "Saab CEO sees ‘huge interest’ in T-X trainer aircraft following US Air Force deal" ...The T-X production facility that Swedish defense group Saab is building in West Lafayette, Indiana, “will become one of our major sites,” Håkan Buskhe, the group’s CEO told a media briefing here this week.
The trainer aircraft program “opens new opportunities,” he said, predicting considerable global sales.
Buskhe believes the trainer, being built by Boeing with Saab producing and assembling the rear of the fuselage, “is something we will sell around the world. There is huge interest.”
For the moment, the $813 million engineering manufacturing and development contract signed in 2018 by the U.S. Air Force with Boeing is for five aircraft.
There is a requirement for a further 346 aircraft which will be the subject of a yet-to-be-signed production contract.
Boeing believes that 2,600 aircraft could be sold worldwide.
... flightglobal.com ... "PARIS: Boeing sticks with big number for future T-X sales" ...Boeing is promoting its T-X advanced jet trainer system with a full-size mock-up in a pavilion near the static park, highlighting its big ambitions for the single-engined type.
Boeing executives have said that the potential market for the T-X, which last year won the pivotal competition to replace the USAF’s iconic Northrop T-38 Trainer, is global.
Boeing vice-president Thom Breckenridge reiterated the view held by Boeing and programme partner Saab that the T-X could sell up to 2,600 units over its lifetime.
This includes 1,000 examples for the US military, with the balance expected from foreign air forces.
... flightglobal.com ... "Boeing's T-X to get Safran auxiliary power system" ...Boeing’s T-X jet trainer is to use an auxiliary power system supplied by Safran Electrical & Power (*), under the terms of an agreement signed at the Paris air show with the US company's development partner, Saab.
Extending a relationship in place between Saab and the Safran group company since 2011 on the Swedish airframer's Gripen fighter programme, the new agreement covers the future production of equipment at the supplier's Pitstone facility in Buckinghamshire, the UK.
... combataircraft.keypublishing.com ... "Report says Boeing/Saab T-X trainer would make an ideal light fighter" ...A new study for the US Air Force says the key to expanding its fleet of fighter aircraft could lay in developing the new Boeing/Saab T-X trainer as a low-cost, lightweight, fighter.
The study is one of two reports by the MITRE Corporation in answer to a Congress directive for an independent analysis of the USAF’s aim to increase in size in order to meet the demands of the National Defense Strategy.
The corporation’s senior principal systems engineer David Gerber says that less-demanding missions such as homeland defense should not soak up precious hours for advanced fourth and fifth-generation fighters, saying that this kind of role could easily be assumed by a developed variant of the T-X.
Fonte ... airforcemag.com ... http://www.airforcemag.com/Features/Pag ... irmen.aspx ...The Air Force unveiled the name of the T-X trainer, designating the aircraft the T-7A Red Hawk as a tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen, America’s first African American aviators, who helped the US fight and defeat Germany in World War II.
Acting Air Force Secretary Matt Donovan unveiled the name with several surviving Tuskegee Airmen in attendance, at AFA’s 2019 Air, Space & Cyber Conference on Sept. 16.
