Air Combat Command is also looking at leasing T-50s, or a similar jet, to develop the Reforge concept while the T-7A completes development and ramps up production in a project known as the RFX. The team of Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries would likely be considered a contender for the program, as they competed strongly for the Air Force’s advanced trainer competition with their jointly developed T-50A. The service is “not limiting the aperture to any one platform” and is open to “any and all vendors that can meet the desired design,” the ACC spokesperson said. Service officials have suggested the Boeing/Saab T-7A Red Hawk could, like the T-38, fulfill both the advanced undergraduate pilot training as well as lead-in fighter training and aggressor sparring-partner roles, but the Air Force is exploring competition before settling on a particular type. 12, and no potential in-service date is yet available. The ACC spokesperson said the timing of setting a program to acquire the new aircraft will depend in part on the responses received to the request for information published Oct. Additionally, USAF is considering the option for it to be “an Adversary Air platform and potential for growth/adaptation as a tactical surrogate.”Īir Force officials said a “tactical surrogate” could teach switchology and procedures to F-16 or F-35 pilots, for example, in a new aircraft in which the displays, possibly the controls, and the performance could be modified to simulate those fighters. “The platform desired is one that will meet the Initial Tactical Training platform requirements within the Reforge ,” an ACC spokesperson said.

The Air Force’s just-announced program to buy a new jet trainer is meant to support the “Reforge” overhaul of the fighter training enterprise put forward by Air Combat Command last year, but the program is in its earliest stage, and no timing for acquiring the airplane has been set, according to ACC.

Jet program