The Air Force is making slow, but steady, progress toward issuing a T-X trainer request for proposals (RFP), with a new goal of third quarter fiscal year 2016, according to responses to industry questions found on Federal Business Opportunities (FBO).
The Air Force last spring expected a fourth quarter FY ’16 RFP release and other major milestones for the program remain in flux. Though the service in its response to industry questions said the requirements for the T-X “family of systems” are still being developed, a top Air Force acquisition official told reporters Wednesday the service is in the “final stages” of tweaking those requirements.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, military deputy of the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, said a key part of the program is how the trainer family of systems plays into fifth-generation fighter jets like the F-22 and F-35. Pawlikowski said the Air Force remains open to clean sheet approaches as well as non-developmental (NDI) aircraft.
The Air Force defines NDI aircraft as products fully developed and in production, but not yet sold and in use. Use of such items enables the Defense Department to capture the latest product developments and new technology, but they also pose some risk because they do not have a performance history, the Air Force said in its responses to industry questions.
“We have wanted to keep the trade space completely open,” Pawlikowski told reporters at a Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington.
The Air Force said in its August responses to industry questions that it anticipates a production rate of 48 aircraft per year and that prime vendors told the service this is an “achievable and economical rate.” The Air Force also expects a two-year ramp-up time from low-rate initial production (LRIP) to full-rate production (FRP) and an approximate 12-month lead time from the initiation of LRIP to the first LRIP delivery. The acquisition strategy for T-X has also not been determined.
Initial operational capability (IOC) is anticipated in the fourth quarter of FY ’23 with full operational capability (FOC) in, or around, FY ’30. A draft RFP is expected for industry’s review and input after the Air Force Requirements Oversight Council (AFROC) meeting scheduled between January and March of calendar year 2015. The Air Force anticipates releasing multiple iterations of a draft RFP in advance of the full RFP.
The field of players for the estimated $30 billion T-X field remains crowded. Likely bidders include: Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Korea Aerospace offering the T-50; CAE USA; General Dynamics [GD] and Alenia Aermacchi; prime contractor Boeing [BA] with primary partner Saab AB offering a clean sheet approach; and Northrop Grumman [NOC] with subs Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and L-3 Communications [LLL] offering BAE’s Hawk advanced jet trainer.
Lockheed Martin Director for T-50 Business Development Mike Griswold told Defense Daily Wednesday the Lockheed Martin-Korea Aerospace offering is superior because the T-50 is already in service in South Korea and is flight proven. It’s also superior, Griswold said, because the T-50 can train for both fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft. This is crucial, he said, because the United States is in a transition period from fourth-generation fighters like the F-16 to fifth-gen fighters like the F-22 and F-35.
Northrop Grumman spokesman Bryce McDevitt said Wednesday in an email the Northrop Grumman-led team will prevail because it represents a unique combination of aerospace leaders that have provided training solutions since the beginning of pilot training.
The T-X program is to replace the Air Force’s T-38 trainers. Alenia Aermacchi is a division of Finmeccanica.