Lockheed Martin will offer the T-50A trainer jet for U.S. Air Force's Advanced Pilot Training (APT) competition to replace the 50 plus ...
Lockheed Martin will offer the T-50A trainer jet for U.S. Air Force's Advanced Pilot Training (APT) competition to replace the 50 plus year old T-38 Talon jet fleet.
The T-50 was jointly developed by Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) for South Korean Air Force advanced jet trainer requirement. The fourth generation aircraft will be upgraded to train next generation of U.S. pilots to fly 5th generation aircraft like the F-35 Lightning II.
The decision comes after an alternative clean sheet trainer designed by its famous Skunk Works division was found to be more costly and could not meet the schedule requirements.
"The T-50A is production ready now. It is the only offering that meets all of the APT requirements and can deliver those capabilities on schedule," said Rob Weiss, executive vice president and general manager, Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Programs (Skunk Works®). "We carefully studied a clean-sheet option for the [Advanced Pilot Training] competition and determined that it posed excessive risk to the APT cost and schedule requirements."
Lockheed Martin has selected the company's Greenville Operations facility in Greenville, South Carolina, as the preferred Final Assembly and Checkout (FACO) site for the T-50A.
The T-50A delivers the fighter-like performance and capabilities needed to eliminate 5th Generation training gaps and inefficiencies. There is no more effective or affordable way to train the next generation of pilots to fly, fight and win.
Lockheed Martin's accompanying T-50A Ground-Based Training System (GBTS) features innovative technologies that deliver an immersive, synchronized ground-based training platform. The agile T-50A GBTS applies lessons-learned from decades of training with leading-edge technologies to deliver a cost-effective advanced pilot training solution.
The first T-50A for the APT program was rolled out by KAI-Lockheed in Dec 2015. The demonstrator is scheduled to perform maiden flight later this year.
The USAF T-X program requirement is estimated for 350 aircraft.
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| Matthew Kunz 2009 |
The T-50 was jointly developed by Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) for South Korean Air Force advanced jet trainer requirement. The fourth generation aircraft will be upgraded to train next generation of U.S. pilots to fly 5th generation aircraft like the F-35 Lightning II.
The decision comes after an alternative clean sheet trainer designed by its famous Skunk Works division was found to be more costly and could not meet the schedule requirements.
"The T-50A is production ready now. It is the only offering that meets all of the APT requirements and can deliver those capabilities on schedule," said Rob Weiss, executive vice president and general manager, Lockheed Martin Advanced Development Programs (Skunk Works®). "We carefully studied a clean-sheet option for the [Advanced Pilot Training] competition and determined that it posed excessive risk to the APT cost and schedule requirements."
Lockheed Martin has selected the company's Greenville Operations facility in Greenville, South Carolina, as the preferred Final Assembly and Checkout (FACO) site for the T-50A.
Lockheed Martin's accompanying T-50A Ground-Based Training System (GBTS) features innovative technologies that deliver an immersive, synchronized ground-based training platform. The agile T-50A GBTS applies lessons-learned from decades of training with leading-edge technologies to deliver a cost-effective advanced pilot training solution.
The first T-50A for the APT program was rolled out by KAI-Lockheed in Dec 2015. The demonstrator is scheduled to perform maiden flight later this year.
The USAF T-X program requirement is estimated for 350 aircraft.
