T-7A Red Hawk production starts
T-7A Red Hawk advanced training jet production has begun at the St. Louis, Missouri, facility. It is the first ‘eSeries’ jet to be digitally designed, built and tested along a digital thread, increasing production quality and reducing assembly time.
Boeing has started production of its US Air Force (USAF) T-7A Red Hawk jet trainer at its St. Louis, Missouri, facility and has developed roughly 90% of a static test article’s forward fuselage. On 23 February Chuck Dabundo, Boeing vice president and T-7A programme manager, said that Boeing has been working on this static test article forward fuselage since last month. He added that the static test article will be completely assembled once Boeing unites the forward fuselage to the aft fuselage, which should happen in a couple of months.
The Red Hawk’s training system is arguably the most
advanced in the world. It is a game changer,”
Chuck Dabundo, vice president, Boeing T-7 Programmes, said in the press release.
“This system is 100% integrated with the pilot’s real-world experience, offering ‘real-as-it-gets’ simulation. We are working closely with the US Air Force and look forward to testing and fielding the devices.
Saab, which is developing the T-7A with Boeing, has completed the structure build and working instrumentation,Dabundo said.Triumph Aerospace Structures is working in parallel with Boeing and is building the wings and the horizontal and vertical tails. Generally static test articles are used on development programmes with newly designed structures. Once complete, Boeing will place the static test article into a test fixture where it will impart flight representative loads on the structure, which is instrumented to measure loads. Dabundo said that while the static test article will have a significant amount of instrumentation to measure those loads for comparison against design models, the complete static test article will not have systems or hydraulic tubing, due to the fact that they are not required for the type of testing the company is performing.
T-7A Red Hawk simulator production starts
The US Air Force has ordered 46 simulators and associated ground equipment but can purchase up to 120 simulators under the current contract with Boeing. The company is on track to deliver the first ground-based simulators for the T-7A Red Hawk trainer aircraft in 2023, launching production last month of the first two weapon system trainers and the first operational flight trainer. Both types of Red Hawk ground-based training systems (GBTS) can be connected to live T-7A aircraft, designed and built by Boeing and Sweden’s Saab and “participate in common embedded training scenarios,” Maasarani explained. “The aircraft and GBTS utilise a common debrief system which supports joint aircraft and simulator debrief sessions, allowing pilots to more quickly adjust and learn from their training.”
The weapon system trainer (WST) has a 360-degree field of view visual system that can simulate using night-vision goggles, Boeing’s press release said. The operational flight trainer (OFT) has a 300-degree field of view. Both simulators have state-of-the-art, high-fidelity 8K projectors to allow highly realistic visuals. “This is the most accurate and immersive experience that any pilot can have outside the cockpit,” said Sherri Koehnemann, T-7A training and sustainment director at Boeing Global Services.
US Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett has touted Boeing’s digital design and engineering as a model for future aircraft development, dubbing the first T-7A models built from their ‘digital twins’ as the ‘e-T-7’. “The GBTS systems run on the same software as the T-7A aircraft, which means that when the plane is upgraded, they can be too. Furthermore, the digital approach allows the ‘displays and handling qualities’ to be ‘designed and purpose built’ to meet customer requirements,”explained Maasarani.“The flight control and mission systems are state-of-the art and can be adapted for a variety of aircraft and mission requirements.”
Back in July, the Boeing-Saab team responded to a request for information (RFI) from the Australian Defence Ministry, which is looking to replace the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) BAE Hawk 127 jet trainers. The current fleet of 33 trainers is used to prepare RAAF pilots to fly F/A-18A and F/A-18B Hornets and F/A-18F Super Hornets. Further, the T-7A also could be used by some non-US Air Forces as a light-attack aircraft.
In addition to the flight simulators and the actual trainer aircraft, Maasarani noted that the Red Hawk’s “comprehensive training system includes interactive multimedia instruction, interactive classroom lessons, computer-based training modules, adaptive training that adjusts to students’ needs and a complete suite of instructor tools, for optimum results on the ground and in the ‘classroom in the sky’.”