Lockheed Martin [LMT] successfully completed the initial flight test of its T-50A configured aircraft the company is offering for the Air Force’s T-X trainer competition, according to a company statement.
The T-50A is developed jointly by Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). The companies are also developing a ground-based training system for the aircraft. Lockheed Martin is currently standing up its T-50A final assembly and checkout (FACO) facility in Greenville, S.C.
T-X is a highly-anticipated Air Force competition. In addition to Lockheed Martin and KAI; Raytheon
[RTN], Leonardo Alenia Aermacchi, CAE [CAE] and Honeywell [HON] are teaming to offer a modified version of the Aermacchi M-346 called the T-100. Another team competing for the program is Northrop Grumman [NOC] with BAE Systems and L-3 Communications [LLL], putting forward a clean sheet design. Boeing [BA] and Saab are teaming while Textron [TXT] plans to offer its Scorpion jet (Defense Daily, Feb. 22).