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Production of Air Force’s next-gen training jet delayed to 2024
Design and testing hiccups on the Air Force’s new T-7A Red Hawk training jet, in development at Boeing, have pushed aircraft production into 2024, Air Force Times has learned.
Setbacks have dulled the shine of a program hailed as a major step forward in the adoption of faster, digital-first aircraft design. It also pressures the Air Force to maintain its aging T-38 Talon fleet longer than expected until a replacement is ready.….
At issue are the emergency egress systems, including ejection seats, and flight control software, Boeing and Air Force officials said.
It’s not your standard ejection system: In 2020, the Air Force mandated that companies must design future aircraft to fit a wider range of recruitable Americans, rather than past standards based on a 1967 survey of male pilots that considered their standing and sitting heights and reach.
That led the Air Force to bar more than 40% of women — particularly women of color — from becoming pilots without a waiver.
But creating a new jet escape system that works for the vast majority of all potential recruits has proven tricky. The program had conducted 14 qualifying tests on the egress system as of October 2021, when they were paused to address problematic results.
The assessments showed high risk for concussions, unsafe acceleration when a parachute opens, and the possibility that a pilot’s helmet visor could fly off at high speeds, Air Force spokesperson Maj. Alli Stormer said.
“Design improvements are ongoing and escape system testing is planned to resume in [the] first quarter of 2023,” Stormer said…..