The T-X is going to be a potential serious contender for much of the potential order volume of the F35.
Today SaaB and Boeing officially team-up.
Boeing, Saab team up for USAF T-X requirement
Under the two companies' joint development agreement, Boeing will act as the prime contractor and Saab the primary partner, Boeing said in a statement. The partnership will deal with all aspects of the bid, including design, development, production, support, sales and marketing.....
The T-X competition is likely to be among the USAF’s biggest acquisition programmes in the coming decade. The USAF strategy for the T-X is still evolving. The service had released proposed requirements for an off-the-shelf aircraft, with the Korea Aerospace/Lockheed Martin T-50, Alenia Aermacchi T-100 derivative of the M-346 and the BAE Systems Hawk T2 each expressing interest.
The Boeing/Saab partnership for T-X raises the strong possibility that the pair’s offer will draw heavily on the Swedish company’s single-engined Gripen fighter.
About the T-X
One of the driving requirements for the new trainer will be to help prepare pilots for the increased complexity in some areas, particularly information management, that are a part of fifth generation jet fighters like the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II. The aircraft and simulation system will have to fulfil several basic training roles; basic aircraft control, airman-ship, formation, instrument and navigation, advanced air-to-air, advanced air-to-ground, and advanced crew/cockpit resource management. Furthermore, there are five advanced training roles that the system is expected to fulfil; sustained high-G operations, aerial refuelling, night vision imaging systems operations, air-to-air intercepts, and data-link operations. The 2009 Request For Information (RFI) mentions that some tasks, such as aerial refuelling, may be performed in the simulator and not on the aircraft itself.[8]
Additionally, while the RFI is specifically for a USAF trainer, it asks potential suppliers about the feasibility of a fighter/attack variant of the aircraft and a carrier-capable variant for the United States Navy.[8] However, the requirements manager for the program, Dave McDonald, has stated that it is unlikely that potential combat performance will be considered.
Even with the question of areal refuelling and the somewhat vague statement that
" it is unlikely that potential combat performance will be considered" this whole project seems ever more likely to be the version of today's real LWF.
2023 would be about perfect for most of the current M2000, F5, F16 and F18 users, even the US NAVY might somehow still be involved , certainly with something like an Americanized Gripen.