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T-7A Red Hawk over Edwards Air Force Base in 2023 | |
Role | Advanced trainer |
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National origin | United States/Sweden |
Manufacturer | Boeing / Saab |
First flight | 20 December 2016 |
Primary user | United States Air Force |
Produced | 2021–present |
Number built | 2 prototypes, and 3 engineering and manufacturing development aircraft[ |
The USAF's Air Education and Training Command (AETC) began developing the requirements for a replacement for the supersonic Northrop T-38 Talon as early as 2003. Originally, the replacement trainer was expected to enter service around 2020. A fatigue failure of a T-38C killed the two-person crew in 2008 and the USAF advanced the target date of initial operational capability (IOC) to 2017 In the fiscal 2013 budget proposal, the USAF suggested delaying the initial operating capability to FY2020 with the contract award not expected before FY2016. Shrinking budgets and higher-priority modernization projects pushed the IOC of the T-X program winner to "fiscal year 2023 or 2024". Although the program was left out of the FY 2014 budget entirely, the service still viewed the trainer as a priority.
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Moreover the F/T-7X, a variant of the T-7, is one of the contenders for the United States Air Force's Advanced Tactical Trainer program, with a possible 100 to 400 aircraft sale.
Boeing aims to sell over 2,700 Red Hawks globally. In addition to the U.S. Air Force,
The T-7B variant is also one of the contenders for the United States Navy's Tactical Surrogate Aircraft program, with a possible sale of 64 aircraft