The M-346N is being offered as a “ready-now” solution, based on the original M-346 aircraft developed by Leonardo, to train future naval aviators.
Textron Aviation Defense has announced on Jul. 28, 2025, its offering for the U.S. Navy Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS), the Beechcraft M-346N. The offer is the result of a teaming agreement with Leonardo, which developed the original M-346, to meet the Navy’s requirements for its new jet trainer.
The Beechcraft M-346N jet is being offered as a “ready-now” solution to satisfy the Navy’s needs for the training of future naval aviators. The service has already released several Requests for Information (RFI) for the aircraft which will replace the T-45C Goshawk as part of the new UJTS program, and is expected to release a Request for Proposals (RFP).
The @Beechcraft M-346N offers a complete solution for training the next generation of Navy and Marine Corps aviators.
Learn more at https://t.co/4ttV7tOVwO.
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— Textron Aviation (@TextronAviation) July 28, 2025
“With our heritage deeply rooted in the strength and reliability of American manufacturing, the Beechcraft M-346N joins a proud lineup of aircraft built on 95 years of aviation excellence,” says Travis Tyler, President and CEO of Textron Aviation Defense. “The aircraft can be the cornerstone for the Navy’s future of undergraduate jet training, combining operationally-proven performance with cutting-edge technologies.”
Both Leonardo and Textron Aviation Defense have been working in the flight training sector for a long time, with Textron specifically working with the U.S. Navy for over 70 years. Textron provided the Navy with many turboprop trainers throughout the years and, recognizing the maturity of the M-346, which efficiently trains pilots for gen 4.5 and 5th gen aircraft, is continually evolving its broad array of training aircraft to support emerging next gen needs.
Beechcraft M-346N
The new M-346 is being developed on the proven integrated training system based on the original M-346. As Textron noted, the aircraft is already meeting the demanding student pilot training needs for 4th and 5th generation aircraft worldwide, including at the globally renowned International Flight Training School (IFTS) of the Italian Air Force and Leonardo in Italy.
“The comprehensive M-346N integrated training ecosystem, which has been validated and continuously improved through the global operational experience of the M-346 integrated training system, is poised to provide the Navy with a complete solution that enhances student readiness and operational effectiveness while reducing training costs and risks,” says Textron.
Obviously, the M-346N will be adapted to the Navy’s needs with specific features required to prepare in the best way the new naval aviators for the high-performance world of carrier-based fighter operations. Among the features of the M-346N will be the Live Virtual and Constructive (LVC) system, which will challenge the students throughout the training by merging the real and virtual worlds.
A big difference of the M-346N is that the aircraft has two engines, while the T-45 is a single engine aircraft. This made the T-45 vulnerable to bird strikes and, in fact, some aircraft have been lost because of this problem. A second engine could allow the aircraft to safely land after a bird strike.
However, another big difference compared to the T-45 is that the M-346 will not be modified for carrier operations. A good portion of the training command’s syllabus is centered around the Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP), which 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.
The FCLPs get the pilots ready to go to the ship at sea and do “the real thing,” which happens at a later stage of the training syllabus with the students deploying to an aircraft carrier with their T-45s. However, with the fifth RFI, the Navy said “the UJTS air vehicle will only be required to conduct Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP) to wave off.”
The Undergraduate Jet Training System program
In 2024 we had a chance to talk with Leonardo and Textron Aviation Defense to get a better understanding of the UJTS program and their proposal. David Kindley, Leonardo U.S.’s director for trainers, airlifters and special mission campaigns, explained to us that there are three overriding imperatives for modern flight training.
The first one is the time required to train, as students need to go through the training command faster and thus the training needs to be more efficient and more effective. Second one is driven by the cost to fly high-end aircraft like the F-35C and the F/A-18 Block III. The goal is to “download” the advanced training and move as much of it as possible into the training command, so it can be performed with less expensive aircraft, but without losing in training quality.
The third one is that today’s training command is changing, moving from providing “just” basic airmanship to also teaching cockpit management and processing information, which is one of the challenges that pilots face when moving to complex aircraft later on. Obviously, the Navy has some unique aspects which needs to be accounted when planning pilot training, such as carrier operations.
As of now, it appears that landing on aircraft carriers will not be included as a requirement for the new jet trainer, meaning that the aircraft will not need a tail hook and catapult launch bar. As Kindley remarked, an aircraft that has to trap on the carrier and launch from a catapult has to be designed from the ground up on that premise because the structural design needs to account for very significant stresses during carrier operations.
The changes
With the fourth RFI released in 2024, the Navy said the anticipated contract award date has been pushed from Fiscal Year 2026 to Q2FY2028. At the time, the service was still evaluating whether the UJTS air vehicle will need to conduct FCLPs to touchdown.
The RFI includes a list of desired attributes for the Navy’s new jet training aircraft, including zero-zero ejection seats and bird strike-resistant canopy. The latter is quite obvious as the Navy lost some aircraft because of the bird strike problem and obviously wants to minimize the chances of this happening again.
As for the cockpit configuration, the service is requesting an aircraft with Head-Up Display (HUD) and a “single, primary touch-screen display in both cockpits”, as well as Helmet Mounted Displays (HMD) with integrated Augmented Reality (AR) and capable of being used simultaneously or individually in the FWD and AFT cockpit. The Large Area Display (LAD) requirement was expected as the Navy already employs LADs on the F-35C and F/A-18 Block III aircraft that would be flown by pilots graduated on the UJTS.
The RFI then moves to suitability and performance attributes, beginning from the capability to maintain fixed Angle of Attack (AoA) approach targeting 3.25 degree glideslope while maintaining field of view during FCLPs. As for the performance, the Navy is looking for an aircraft capable of a speed of at least Mach 0.9/450-500 KIAS, sustained AoA over 20 deg, sustained load factor of at least 6 G, operating ceiling of at least 41,000 ft and turn rate of at least 12 deg/sec.
The new UJTS aircraft is also required to integrate the new Precision Landing Mode (PLM), which is now on F/A-18s and F-35s and will eventually be the standard method for approaching the aircraft carrier for all naval aircraft. PLM not only drastically reduces the number of corrections required during the final approach to the aircraft carrier, but could also lower the demand on the structure of the aircraft, reducing the need for structural modifications.
The latest RFI changed again the award date, projecting it in January 2027. The RFI also mentioned that the “UJTS program is on an accelerated procurement timeline.”
The service reached a decision on one of the most important aspects for the design of the T-45’s replacement. In fact, the new RFI now states that “the UJTS air vehicle will only be required to conduct Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP) to wave off.”
With the new requirement, future student pilots will only perform the approach phase of the current FCLP, going around once reached the minimums, without touching down on the runway. This eliminates the need for a lengthy redesign of the aircraft to allow it to withstand the forces involved in the unflared landings.
The Navy says that this decision, which sets a completely different route compared to the T-45 Goshawk and, previously, the T-2 Buckeye, is “due to advancements in operational platform landing modes and in ground-based simulation.” This means the new naval aviators will rely more on automation and perform complete FCLPs only in the flight simulator.
You can read our in-depth report about the M-346N and the UJTS here.
