The fifth and final EMD aircraft will now join the test fleet assigned to the T-7 Integrated Test Force and continue to validate the Red Hawk’s capabilities ahead of the Milestone C and the LRIP contract expected in 2025.
The final Engineering Manufacturing Development (EMD) T-7A Red Hawk flew for the first time from Boeing’s St Louis plant in Missouri on Dec. 13, 2024. The aircraft, designated APT-5 (serial 21-7005), is the last of the test fleet which will operate from Edwards Air Force Base, California.
Lt Col Shay Brantigan, commanding officer of the 416th Flight Test Squadron, was the pilot for this flight. In the video released by Boeing he said the team is “focused on making sure that all of the displays in the aircraft and its performance is what the customer expects.”
“This aircraft is going to provide much more complex training scenarios for students, and it’s also going to provide performance,” he added. “The T-7 is going to revolutionize how we do pilot training and how we do introduction to fighter fundamentals.”
The final T-7A #RedHawk engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) jet recorded its first @USAirForce flight.
Thanks to the 416th Flight Test Squadron @EdwardsAFB for piloting this advanced trainer and its red tail legacy into the future! pic.twitter.com/iiJ1nzYtXI
— Boeing Defense (@BoeingDefense) December 13, 2024
One of the shots of Brantigan’s interview also showed another T-7 right behind him, while undergoing maintenance at Boeing’s facility, mounted on hydraulic jacks with the left main landing gear leg removed. The serial 21-7003 identifies it as APT-3, the second T-7 delivered to the U.S. Air Force and arrived at Eglin AFB, Florida, in Dec. 2023 for climate testing at the McKinley Climatic Laboratory.
Going by latest reports and prior coverage by The Aviationist, the first of five EMD T-7As reached Edwards on Nov. 8, 2023, followed by a second EMD jet and one of Boeing’s two PRJs (Production Relevant Jet). The aircraft 21-7002 was also the airframe that had a U.S. Air Force pilot flying a T-7A Red Hawk for the first time in Jun. 2023, marking the beginning of the EMD phase.
The EMD phase is meant to validate the expected performance, systems and kinematic characteristics of the aircraft before the Air Force decides on the Milestone C and Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) contract of the delayed project.
Delivery, delays and contracts
The development follows Boeing’s “quality problems” with T-7A’s parts, “supply chain issues,” performance and safety issues that slowed the program. Parts had to be returned to the manufacturer for repairs, Defense News said in February this year. This initially forced the company to delay the aircraft’s LRIP until at least mid-2024, “several months later than the original plan,” the report added.
The company was also building a new production line at St. Louis to meet the LRIP needs, since Boeing is required to deliver T-7s ten months after the Air Force awards the LRIP contract. While that contract is now expected to arrive in 2025, Defense News quoted Boeing’s vice-president and T-7 program manager Evelyn Moore who said the firm might start production before the contract in order to meet the ten-month deadline.
The Air Force expects to make a Milestone C decision on whether to produce the T-7 in Feb. 2025, so that deliveries could commence in Dec. 2025. This production timeline is about two years later than the Air Force originally intended. The Aviationist had reported in May 2023 that the U.S. Air Force’s acquisitions chief Andrew Hunter said the new advanced trainer jet won’t achieve the Initial Operational Capability until early 2027. This is a year later than the latest projection, after the milestone was first moved from the original 2024 target.
This was owing to issues discovered during flight testing pertaining to the ejection seat, as noted in a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report and a “wing rock” that caused instability in the roll axis while flying at high angles of attack. These issues were discovered on two Production Relevant Jets (PRJ) during flight testing by Boeing. facility in St. Louis in Missouri. The PRJs are the two Boeing-owned prototypes, previously known simply as T1 and T2.
T-7A Red Hawk program
The U.S. Air Force and Boeing signed a $9.2 billion contract in Sep. 2018, as a part of the T-X program. The service plans to purchase 351 T-7s by 2034 to replace its fleet of aging 1960’s-era T-38 Talon jet trainers.
The T-7 is designed to emulate fifth-generation fighters like the F-35 and ease pilot training to operate newer generation fighters and bombers. The contract also includes 46 simulators and an extensive support package.
Alongside the @USAirForce, our T-7 team completed the first phase of testing the #RedHawk‘s technical orders.
Verifying the details and accuracy of these maintenance documents helps to ensure safe, quality aircraft for operators. pic.twitter.com/UEiTUJBXJJ
— Boeing Defense (@BoeingDefense) November 7, 2024
The T-X contract was followed by Boeing awarding a $117.6 million contract to Saab for the Engineering, Manufacturing and Development (EMD) of the trainer aircraft in Oct. 2018. Boeing and Saab unveiled the first two production-ready T-X aircraft in St Louis in Sep. 2016. The first aircraft then flew for the first time in Dec. 2016, while the second airframe’s maiden flight was in Apr. 2017.
The first engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) flight test of the T-X aircraft took place in July 2019, while the 100th flight was performed the following month. In September 2019, the T-X aircraft was officially named T-7A Red Hawk by the USAF to honor the Tuskegee airmen who flew red-tailed P-51 Mustangs during World War II. Then, in Sep. 2023, Boeing handed over the first T-7A Red Hawk to the Air Force.
Contender in U.S. Navy Program
The T-7A Red Hawk is also one of the competitors for the U.S. Navy’s UJTS (Undergraduate Jet Training System) to replace its old T-45 Goshawks, as per a global RFI (Request for Information) issued by NAVAIR (Naval Air Systems Command) in 2023. Other contenders are the Lockheed Martin-Korea Aerospace Industries T-50 and the Leonardo M-346N. As The Aviationist had reported, the U.S. Navy released yet another RFI earlier this year, with the anticipated contract award date pushed from Fiscal Year 2026 to Q2FY 2028.
The first Boeing T-7A Red Hawk successfully arrived at Edwards Air Force Base, California, Nov. 8, 2023.
Air Force photo by Bryce Bennett pic.twitter.com/sXvi8zVmWO
— Fighterman_FFRC (@Fighterman_FFRC) November 9, 2023
As we had noted in our piece about the RFI, the Naval Aviation Enterprise’s (NAE) senior leadership is still uncertain about the main requirements in the UJTS aircraft. In fact, it is still being decided whether the new trainer will need to conduct Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP), around which a good portion of the training command’s syllabus is centered. FCLP allows new pilots to train on land bases for the entire approach and landing maneuver, as performed on the aircraft carrier, just short of the arrested landing.
